


Pretend

by IgotItAtTheHotTopical



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety Attacks, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Post-Doctor Strange (2016), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Stephen Strange - Freeform, tony stark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2019-06-10 19:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 102,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15298227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IgotItAtTheHotTopical/pseuds/IgotItAtTheHotTopical
Summary: It has been four months since it had happened. Four months since the defeat of Thanos, and from those four months you haven’t been the same.





	1. Pretend

It has been four months since it had happened. Four months since the defeat of Thanos, and from those four months you haven’t been the same. 

Once you came back to earth with Peter, Stephen, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodes, and even the guardians, it had felt so.. empty like.. something was missing.

..Tony and Steve were missing. Tony was gone because of you. If you hadn’t just force him out of the planet he wouldn’t have to sacrifice himself, he would still be here. And you wouldn’t of have all this guilt of disappointment.

Steve had jumped in front of Natasha from flying broken poles when one of them had struck him. Natasha did her best to stop the bleeding along with Stephens help but it wasn’t enough, Steve had passed away on the ride back to earth.

Both losses had broken something inside of you for the first month. You wouldn’t eat, talk to anyone, nor sleep.. until Stephen made you go to sleep with a spell he had put you on. You couldn’t sleep due to all the nightmares you would have, they were mostly always about leaving Tony, and seeing Rogers eyes slowly shutting.

The nightmare that always makes you want to stay awake for the rest of the night would be Tony’s. It would start the same.. seeing him on the floor, trying to get him on his feet to head back to the portal Stephen had created. Wherever the fight was, the whole planet was about to vaporize and you didn’t have time to drag Tony to the portal because he had told you to leave him.

**  
“I’m the only one who can kill him.. you have to leave me Y/N,” Tony says as he looks at your wet eyes,

“No... I’m not leaving you,” You say as you try to grab him, but he shrugs you off,

“Take care of them Y/N...,” Tony says and does a weird movement with his hands which sends you flying towards the portal,

“No!.. Tony!,” 

**  
You gasp as you wake up from the same nightmare you’ve been having for four months. You were sweating and panting heavily, as well as crying.  
This was basically all the time. It would get so annoying but nothing would seem to help you out. Sleeping pills wouldn’t work, drinking till you blackout would sometimes work but you would only do it if you couldn’t take the pain anymore. 

You had PTSD and you knew it, but you wouldn’t go to a doctor for help. No one knew, not even Stephen knew.  
How didn’t they know? Easy.. just pretend your okay and act like you aren’t dying inside. When they would ask you how are you doing, you would smile and tell them you we’re fine. ‘Better than before,’ you would say,

Every once and a while when you were about to have an anxiety attack you would calmly excuse yourself from the conversation and head somewhere no one can hear or see you and just let it happen. Up until Stephen followed you when he saw how pale you got and saw how you were sweating.

Ever since that day he never kept his distance from you, would always be there by your side, and just really be there for you and Peter. That’s all he knew you had, well that’s what you think. 

Once you told him you would get anxiety every once an a while and convinced him that was it temporarily, he nodded his head and let the topic go. But it wasn’t temporary, it has been four months and you still get horrible anxiety attacks.

You were still in bed looking at your ceiling with a blank expression. You turned your head to look at the clock and saw that it was five in the morning, you sighed as you knew you weren’t going back to sleep.

You got up and sat on your bed before stretching and hearing all your bones crack, just like how your brain is probably getting. You felt a weight on your feet and saw it was your German Shepherds head that was leaning on your legs.

“Mornin Buddy,” You say as you pet him on his side,

Stephen had gotten Zeus for you ever since you told him about your anxiety issue. You always smile when you remember him knocking at your door and opening it to see him with a small smile and a beautiful shepherd puppy in his arms.

“I’ve read it helps to have a fluffy friend with you,” He says with a smile and a hint of pink in his cheeks,

You fell in love with Zeus and maybe even fell more and more for Stephen. He didn’t know how you felt because you kept it a secret and hidden like you keep everything else hidden.

You trained Zeus the day you got him, he was a very smart, loyal and loving Shepherd and you had a strong bond with him. Having him has helped you to control your anxiety more and you would always thank Stephen for it.

He loved and protected everyone he knew, including Peter. The first time Peter met Zeus something had clicked between them and were inseparable since then. 

“Wanna go for a morning walk?,” You say as you get up from your bed and receive a bark back which makes you smile,

You headed towards your bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth. You lived alone in a two bedroom penthouse, you never knew why you decided to get a penthouse with two bedrooms. No one else was going to live with you so you turned the second room into a guest room with a pull out bed. It was big like your master bedroom so you had added a tv and a PS4 since Peter would stay with you for a couple of days. Your house was pretty big, you had a large living room and a well medium kitchen with an island table in the middle, and both rooms were upstairs.

Both Stephen and Peter would visit you to either hangout or to have a movie marathon. The rest of the avengers would stay at the avenger base and pop in every once and a while. Clint and Natasha would rarely visit since they both live farther, but would make it work.

As you finished washing and brushing your teeth, you placed your hair in a messy ponytail and grabbed your black Nike shoes. After grabbing your house keys and phone you had left your home with Zeus behind you. 

Zeus was well trained that he could walk with you without a leash. You still had it with you just in case you would go inside a place where it was mandatory to have your dogs on a leash. 

You went to the park to have a morning jog to loosen your mind off the nightmare. Running would help you most of the time. Feeling that morning wind against your skin as you run feels refreshing and cooling. You run until you don’t have anything to think about or to not have those horrible images in your head.

You run until the sun rises, and you head back home to take a shower and get ready for the day. But this time you decide to enjoy jogging and walking with Zeus until the sun rises. Once that happens then you head home and shower to get the day going.

When you arrived at your home you headed straight to the shower before giving Zeus his morning meal. After the shower you dressed and ate as well. You had blue jeans with a black long sleeve V- neck with the sleeves rolled up and white and black converse.

You were supposed to head to Peppers house to help her with moving things around. Well more like putting Tony’s inventions into boxes since she’s sending them to Stark industries so she won’t have to be seeing them and being reminded all the time.

You were busy daydreaming about your plans when you were suddenly scared out of it when someone spoke beside you and almost fell out of your chair from how hard you jumped. You couldn’t believe at what you were staring at in front of you.

“Sorry.. didn’t mean to scare you there,” Tony says who was smiling and leaning on the island 

You felt your heart starting to race and felt like you were about to faint from what you were seeing. You backed away slowly with wide eyes until your back hit the couch.

“H-h-how are you-... your dead,” You say with wide eyes,

“Yes... last time I checked,” Tony says,

He was wearing his casual clothes, black slacks, white button up with some black sneakers and a black blazer. He looked like Tony, he sounded like Tony... but you know your Tony had been dead for four months.

“This is...- I don’t understand,” You say still trying to believe what you are seeing,

“Well... I’m here because of you,” Tony says as he points at you,

“What?,” You say still not fully understanding how Tony is right in front of you and talking,

Tony just sighs and rolls his eyes like he use to do when he was so done with everyone, “ I’m here because you thought of me,” He says,

“So you just appeared because I.... thought of you?,” You say slowly catching on,

“Pretty much,” He says as he shrugs,

You chuckle at his response and start freaking out from what he said,”Wow... this a whole new level of insanity,” You say as you rub your eyes with your fingers trying to see if you aren’t dreaming,

“Pretty much since I’m inside you,” He says but quickly realizes how it came out,”.... that came out wrong,” 

You just stared at him in shock, you were starting to think that you finally cracked. Thinking you finally went sane after all those months from not getting help, and keeping everything inside until it got too much and it finally burst. Spreading everything you’ve felt, everything you’ve ever locked away to not have that feeling of ending your own life.

You started to think about things, are you the only one able to see him? Will he be here forever? Is it only when you think of him? So many questions were piling after another inside your head, you couldn’t keep track of which one to ask first.

“Hey..,” Tony says snapping his fingers, “Don’t pass out on me now.. I just got here,” He says with a smirk,

“No.. you-...You aren’t real,” You say as you slowly make your way to him,

“No... I’m not. I’m only real when you think of me,” He says with small smile,

You reached out to feel his skin but stopped before you can feel anything and embarrass yourself. You backed away and headed to the coffee table to grab your keys to leave to Peppers.

“Leaving so soon?,” Tony says as he follows you with his gaze,

“Have somewhere to be,” You say and leave before saying goodbye to Zeus and slamming the door,

You left running to your car and drove as fast as you can to Peppers house. You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t know you had made to Peppers house less than 15 minuets.

You were surprised no cop had pulled you over from how fast you were driving. You were outside of the house but still seating behind the wheel, you placed your head on the steering wheel and tried to control your breathing. This is too much, you need help and you need it fast. Not too long ago you had a nightmare about Tony and now your actually seeing him in person.

Your mind is so fucked up that you can’t even stay calm from a fallen object before going all crazy and getting ready to fight, only coming to realization it was just a cup or spoon falling.

After staying in the car for a couple of minutes you got off and made your way to the door to knock. Once you knocked you looked around to see if he would pop up since that’s all you can think about now. When he didn’t show up you felt relieved, but still worried about your health.

The door open revealing Dummy one of Tony’s old inventions with a cap on. You smiled at it and made yourself in before patting it on its metal neck. You were walking towards the living room but stopped when you saw a case landing on the ground right in front of you.

“Uhhh.. Pepper?,” You say and look around the room for her,

“Up here,” Pepper says from above you,

As you went more forward into the room and looked up you felt your blood going down at what you were seeing.

“Jesus Pepper...should you be doing that?,” You say to the women who was standing on a chair while trying to reach something far from her,

“Stephen told you to rest,” You say and quickly made your way towards the stairs,” Your stress cleaning and it’s not good for you or the baby,” you add standing next to her,

“I will as soon as I get this dam box from this shelf,” She says still reaching which was making you nervous seeing how the chair would rise up,

“Okay, Okay.. let me do it,” You say and quickly hold on to the chair,

“No I got it,” She says turning back to the box,

“Pepper-..,” You say but was cut off by her,

“I can’t relax because when I do I start to think about him and I don’t want to!,” She says snapping at you and covers her mouth with her hand,

You sigh at her response, knowing how she feels. Ever since Tony’s death it has not been easy for her.. especially since she was going to tell him she was pregnant with their son before he had left to fight Thanos. 

When you found out about her pregnancy you’ve became really over protective and closer to her. When she was feeling lonely you would be there, if she needed your help with something you would be there, even if she wanted your help with her work you would still be there along with Stephen. Stephen was also caring over her and would check up on her to see how she was doing.

Pepper slowly starts to come down from the chair with the support of your hand and sits down on the chair. She just sat there rubbing her growing belly.

“I’m sorry,” Pepper says with a sniff,

“No.. it’s okay. I know how you feel,” You say and kneel to her height,

“I just can’t right now, it would be too much emotions all at once,” She says and starts running circles on her belly and looks up at you with watery eyes,

“Its Okay, I’m sorry,” You say fighting the tears that want to spill out,

Pepper just smiles and places her hand over yours and guides it to her stomach so you can feel her growing child. You smiled when he kicked at your touch.

You both stayed like that for a couple of minutes until you had told Pepper you should start helping before it gets to late and the truck gets here to pick up the boxes. She nodded and got up from the chair to sit on the couch.

“Where’s Happy by the way,” You say as you help her down the steps and realizing he wasn’t there,

“He went to go grab some breakfast for himself,” She says and carefully sits down on the comfy cushion,

“Breakfast?... it’s almost noon Pep,” You say with a chuckle,

“It’s always breakfast for him,” She says with a smile and turns on the tv,

“What about you?,” You say

“I already ate a oatmeal with a banana on the side,” She says back,

You laughed at her and started to head to the garage before telling her Stephen was going to come by to help you as well. As you were making your way down you felt nervous since it has been a while you were down there.

Every memory you had made here with Tony was rushing to you all at once. The place was almost empty, some of his Ferrari’s were still there, couple tools were laying on the ground, blue prints scattered everywhere, pieces of armor where on desks. 

You made your way to boxes filled with stuff that was labeled ‘TONY’S TOYS’ which made you smile. You grabbed it and placed it on the table for better view. He had a couple old action figures, a lot of cd records, bunch of tools, and a picture with you and him.

It was the day you had first met him and worked with him on his first Iron suit. You didn’t do much, all you would do was hand him the tools he wanted or help him add more ideas into the suit. Happy had taken the photo when the both of you were too busy fixing the suit.

****  
Pepper was sitting on the couch watching a rerun of a show when the doorbell rang. She really didn’t feel like getting up but she didn’t want to be a lazy pregnant lady so she got up to open the door.

“Who’s at the door Friday?,” Pepper says as she walks slowly to the door,

“It appears to be Mr. Strange, boss,” Friday says back,

As she made her way to the door and opened it Stephen was there outside with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a plain white shirt with dark navy pants and black boots, along with a black watch.

“Hey Stephen,” Pepper says and opens the door more wide for him to come inside,

Stephen smiles and enters her home before giving her a small kiss on her cheek,” Hey Pepper how you doing?,”

“Well still here with horrible cravings,” She says and walks back to the couch where she had all kinds of snacks,

He chuckles at her mess of junk food and looks around the room for you but doesn’t seem to see you.

“Y/n’s down stairs already,” Pepper says when she sees Stephen looking around,

“Great then I’ll just be out of your way and let you stuff yourself,” Stephen says with a smile,

As he was leaving he heard the front door being open and seeing Happy enter with bags of groceries and placing them on the floor to greet Stephen.

“Strange nice to see you again,” Happy says and pats him on the shoulder,

“You too happy,” Stephen says back,

“Y/n is not here yet?,” Happy says noticing it was just him,

“She’s down stairs already, about to head down there,” Stephen says,

“Great mind if I send these boxes with you?,” Happy says as he gestures to the boxes beside the kitchen counter,

“Not at all,” Stephen says,

Once he had the boxes he made his way downstairs to go and help you out.

*****  
You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t hear Stephen opening the door until he started to speak.

“Hey Y/N,” Stephen says with a smile and places the boxes on the nearest table,

“Hey,” You say back and give him a hug,

“Wow.. haven’t seen these beauties in a while,” Stephen says looking at the black Ferrari,

You looked back as well and smiled to him while you picked up some tools from the table.

“You can have one if you’d like.. Pepper doesn’t really drive those type of cars and I don’t have space for both,” You say,

“Haven’t really drove one since the accident,” Stephen says as he helps you clean, “besides why have a car when you have a sling ring to go wherever you want,” He adds,

You smile and chuckle at his comment. After an hour or two both of you decided to take a break and sit inside of a vintage car Tony had in his garage. You started to remember all the memories with Tony and tried your hardest to not cry.

“I remember the first time I came here,” You say breaking the silence,

“Wasn’t much of a help... but what I know today is because of him,” You say and look down at your lap and start to fiddle with your shirt,

Stephen was looking at you the whole time in silence. Seeing how you would have a smile when you would talk about your moments with Tony. He moved closer to you when he saw a tear escape from your eye and gently wiped it with his thumb.

You turned to him and smiled as you wiped your other tear and cleared your throat. You wanted to tell him what had happened earlier, but we’re too afraid what he would think. In your own opinion you knew you were losing your mind.. which scared you. 

Seeing someone who is gone is not normal, it’s psychotic and terrifying. You have your nightmares already why have something else added to your list? You needed help, but yet you didn’t want any. 

“Stephen I-,” You start to say but was interrupted by your phone ringing,

You sigh thanking your phone to not making you spill everything. When you answered it Stephen saw how your face went to stress from worried.

“What’s wrong?,” Stephen says after you hanged up,

“It’s Peter, he had a panic attack in school,” You say as you get out of the car,

You made your way to the stairs to go to your car but realized Tony’s car keys were on the table and grabbed one of them. 

“Where you going?,” Stephen says standing while he watches you walking towards the car,

You turn around confused on why he would asked that when you just told him what had happened with Peter, 

“To the school, to pick up Peter,” You say still facing him,

“Did you forget I have a sling ring?,” Stephen says and takes out his ring from his pocket,

You honestly had forgotten he had that. You were so worried about Peter and about yourself going insane that you couldn’t think straight. 

“Right.. forgot you had that,” You say tossing the keys back on the table,

Stephen then noticed that you seemed very off, noticing how you would quickly get lost into your own thoughts. Before making a portal to Peter’s school he placed a hand on your arm to make you look at him.

“Are you Okay?,” He asks looking into your eyes with his beautiful earth eyes,

“I-I’m fine,” You say with a smile 

He just looked at you until you felt uncomfortable under his gaze and pushed his hand away that was reaching for your cheek.

“Really Stephen.. I’m okay, just tired it’s all,” You say looking at the ground when he just furrowed his eyebrows together,

“Fine,” He says with attitude and makes a portal for you to go in and him following behind,

As the both of you made your way towards the school doors, you quickly thought to yourself why in the world didn’t you just tell him? Don’t you trust him? Of course you did... it just seemed to be hard to tell him that you were seeing your dead friend who has been dead for four months. 

I mean, how can you explain something like that to anyone? It isn’t easy at all. Coming back to your thoughts you felt a heavy tension between the two of you as you guys were walking. When you looked at him he still had his eyebrows furrowed and you sighed quietly so he won’t hear.

When you looked back in front of you, you noticed you were in a hall with lockers and classrooms on each side. You kept walking looking for a door with ‘Office’ on it but it would never appear.

“Do you even know where your going,” Stephen says breaking the silence and stops walking,

“Main office,” You say still walking,

“Which is?,” He says and looks at you,

You stopped walking and sighed heavily,” I don’t know,” You say as you turned around to face him,

“Ive never been to this school before so I don’t know,” You say and put your hands in your pocket,

Stephen just looks at you with a annoyed face which makes you roll your eyes at him.

“What? Your the one with the ring,” You say getting annoyed on how he’s blaming it on you,

All Stephen does is points beside him for you to look, when you turn to where he’s pointing you saw Peter through the window sitting down on one of the chairs with his head down. When you looked back at Stephen he just raised his eyebrow and smirked at you when you cleared your throat awkwardly.

You opened the door to go inside and saw Peter look up at you. You walked towards him and kneeled down to him as you placed a hand on his cheek.

“You okay?,” You say looking into his eyes,

He just nods his head and smiles softly. He then looks up when Stephen stands by the door way looking at him with a smile.

“Hey Mr.Strange,” Peter says with a wide smile,

“Hey kid,” Stephen says and crosses his arms in front of his chest,

“Ms. Y/L/N?,” The nurse says and you turn to her direction, “Hi I’m nurse Allen,” She says with a smile,

“Peter had insisted on me calling you, are you his legal guardian?,” She says 

“Yes I am, when his aunt isn’t available I’m the one to take care of him,” You say standing up,

“What happened?,” You ask the nurse,

“Well he had a serious panic attack during a test,” She says and sits on the edge of her desk,

You look at Peter who had his head down and glared at him, “Nothing happened huh?,” You say mocking him,

All Peter does is look up at you with a shy look and shrugs. “Wasn’t a big deal,” He says,

“Peter it is a big deal, you can’t just let it happen and not say anything,” Stephen says and sits down next to him,

As soon as Stephen said that you automatically thought about yourself and your anxiety attacks. You would let them happen and try to deal with it alone and not tell anybody. You felt that if you would talk about it you would get worse.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Peter says breaking you out of your thoughts,

“You can just sign these papers and he’s free to go,” The nurse says and gives you the clipboard with a paper on it,

“No,” Peter says making you look at him,” I don’t want to go,” he adds,

“Peter you just had a panic attack I can’t let you go back to class,” The nurse says to Peter,

“Please.. I can’t miss this test,” Peter says looking at you and Stephen with pleading eyes,

You look at Stephen to see if you should let him stay which of course you shouldn’t but.. after all he is about to turn into an adult. Stephen just sighs and shrugs at you. Yeah very helpful Stephen, you thought.

“Is there a way you can let him take the test and I’ll pick him up when he’s done,” You say looking at the nurse now,

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” The nurse says crossing her arm at you,

“I mean he is almost going to turn eighteen, it’s his decision.. I trust him,” You say at the nurse who looked like she was debating wether or not to let him stay,

Sighing the nurse grabs a blank paper and writes something down on it before handing it to Peter, “As soon as you are done you are going home mister,” She says,

Peter nods and takes the paper from her hand. When you signed the paper the three of you went out to the hall to say bye to Peter before leaving.

“I’ll be back in an hour, and if your not done then your just gonna have to tell your teacher if you can finish it tomorrow,” You say placing your hand on Peters shoulder,

“Okay fine, deal,” Peter says and takes his backpack from Stephen when he gives it to him,

As he left walking down the hall you and Stephen just stared until he disappeared up the stairs. When you turned around you crashed into Stephens chest and muttered a sorry before walking around him and out the doors.

As soon as you we’re outside Stephen had made a portal back to Tony’s place and you stepped in with him behind you. To kill time you decided to finish boxing everything up and placing them on the truck that had gotten there while you were in Peters school.

When you were on your last box and placing it inside the truck Stephen gently got you from your arm making you sigh and placed your hands on the truck to rest.

“You can’t keep, keeping it inside Y/N.. please just.. talk to me,” Stephen says softly and turns you around so you can face him,

You wanted to tell him but it was so hard to do it. It’s at the back of your tongue but nothing comes out and it frustrates you because you don’t want to make him think that you don’t trust him.

You look down at your shoes and lean against the truck, but Stephen quickly puts a finger under your chin to make you stare at his amazing breath taking eyes.

“Tell me,” He says with a serious tone along with a hard stare,

You look away from his eyes and let out a frustrated groan. You rub your eyes and look up at him noticing he is still looking at you with a stern look.

“I can’t,” You say hopefully thinking he won’t get offended,

“Can’t or won’t?,” Stephen says back harshly making you get irritated with his annoying questions,

“Look!..,” You say loudly and get up standing near his space,”.. I can’t Okay, because I don’t know how to tell you. All I know is that I’m scared that I am finally going insane.” You say feeling the anger inside of you boiling,

“Then what do you think I’m here for? I’m trying to help you but you won’t let me!,” Stephen all but screams out making you flinch but lash out on him as well,

“Nothing can help me, no one can help me but you don’t know that because you don’t know how I feel every time I get out of bed!,” You snap back at him making him flinch now but still stares at you with anger,

You walk away and head to the table to grab the keys so you can pick up Peter. Stephen was still facing away from you but when he heard the keys he quickly turned around and tried stopping you so you won’t leave.

“Okay wait, please,” He says as he holds your hand and inhaling before continuing,”... I’m sorry,”

You removed his hand but he quickly placed it back on your arm. You were calming down but still felt the urge of anger inside of you. Before you can process what he had done you felt a weight on you, two arms wrapped around your waist and his head on the side of your neck.

You automatically felt the anger fade away from your chest and felt peaceful. God dam it with this man, he can quickly change in an instant without thinking about it. Including you as well.

You melted into his hug and wrapped your arms around his neck and breathed in his scent of men’s conditioner and his cologne. You could stay like this forever but couldn’t since you really had to pick up Peter.

“I have to go,” You say quietly and remove your hands but his were still attached to you and feel him tightening his grip around you,

“I’ll be back, I promise,” You say and feel him gently, but slowly removing his hands,

When he had let you go and raised his head to look into your eyes you smiled at him softly and placed your hand on his chest. You could of kissed him right there and then, but the cowardness took over you. 

You patted him on the chest and walked away with Stephen looking at you.

“When I come back, and if your still here I’ll promise to tell you everything..,” You say turning around to face him before getting into the car,

“Everything?,” Stephen says softly,

You hesitate before saying, “As much as I can,” which makes him smile at you,

With that you got in the car and left to pick up Peter from his school, with the same question playing in your head all the way to the school. How are you going to tell him? What are you going to tell him? Everything, everything? Or just small little things.. like the nightmares and constant panic attacks? Yeah you can do that, don’t tell him about you seeing Tony, or you speaking to Tony. Yeah sounds about right. You think to yourself.

When you got to Peters school you saw that he was talking to Ned near the school doors. You honked at him signaling you were there and received a wave back, along with Ned waving at you with a huge smile. You smiled and waved back to him, noticing how he got shy and looked away with a huge smile on his face.

When Peter finished talking to Ned and said his goodbye he made his way to the car. You were about to start driving but before you can put the car on drive Peter stops you by placing his hand on the gear shift.

“Can I come with you to Tony’s?,” Peter says which makes you look at him with raised eyebrows,

You really thought that was a horrible idea considering Tony was his role model and mentor for the kid and didn’t want him to be more heart broken than he is already feeling inside. 

“Peter.. I don’t think that’s a goo-,” You start to say but was interrupted by him,

“Please.. I-I don’t want to be alone right now,” He says as he looks at you with puppy eyes,

You just look at him and give him a small smile before putting the car on drive, to head back to Tony’s place. Back to.. Stephen who was probably still waiting for you so you can both talk.

The whole way there the only thing you can think about is Stephen, and then Tony. When you looked at the rear mirror you saw Tony sitting in the back seat with his hands crossed on his lap and looking at you. You quickly looked back at the road and automatically made up your mind. You have to tell Stephen.


	2. When the Wall Breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You started having second thoughts about revealing anything to Stephen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!!: Drug use!

When you and Peter had gotten to Tony’s, you made your way towards the door but stopped when you didn’t sensed Peter next to you. You turned around and saw him standing near the car looking up at the house, hesitating to move.

“Peter?,” You say looking at him,

He broke his gaze and looked at you before giving you a small smile and walks to the door with you. You put your hand on his shoulder for comfort and gave it a squeeze before opening the door with Tony’s keys.

As the both of you made your way towards the living room you saw Pepper, Happy, and Stephen sitting on the couch staring at the tv. You also catched a glimpse of Stephen smiling at the tv when it had said a joke.

You started having second thoughts about revealing anything to Stephen. Just seeing him smile made you forget about everything, making you feel like you didn’t have this constant weight on your chest of paranoia, anxiety, and anger. Everything just, dissipated.

“Hey everyone,” Peter says making everyone turn and makes Stephens smile drop,

“Peter, what’s up buddy,” Happy says with shock and looks at Pepper with a ‘why is he here’ look,

“Came from school, wanted to see how Pepper is doing,” Peter says and puts his hands inside his sweater,

Three pair of eyes landed on you with shocking expressions, except for Stephen who had one of his eyebrows raised. You sighed and shrugged.

“His aunt isn’t home,” You lie putting your hands in your pockets,

Silence soon swept in making everything feel tense. Pepper had felt it between you and Stephen as soon as she saw how the both of you would look at each other.

Stephen had gotten up from the couch and made his way towards you. Peter was already walking to take his seat, but as soon as he sat down Pepper had already gotten up.

“You two, help me in the kitchen?,” Pepper says looking at Happy and Peter,

“Sure,” Peters says and quickly gets up from the couch heading to the kitchen,

“What? The show just started,” Happy says and looks back at the tv,

Both you and Stephen were just watching the whole time. 

“Happy!,” Pepper says which makes him jump out of the couch and following her into the kitchen,

As they left you alone with Stephen you had felt the tension, and silence. You cleared your throat when Stephen looked at you and looked down at his feet.

“So,” You say trying to make it less awkward,

Stephen looks up at you and smiles when you made bubble noises with your mouth. Noticing how you we’re struggling to find words he decided to speak for you.

“Wanna talk?,” He says staring into your eyes,

You inhale and let it out heavily before looking down and nodding your head. You closed your eyes to even your breathing, feeling it getting quicker.

“Your place?,” Stephen says getting his sling ring ready on his fingers,

You rapidly open your eyes when he said that, you really didn’t want to be there. You had a feeling if you go home Tony would randomly pop out of nowhere and you would freak out. Again.

“No!, not my place,” You say harshly making him look at you with his eyebrows raised,

He sighs and rolls his eyes,” Is there something wrong with your place?,” He says removing the ring from his fingers,

“No, just.. a spider that’s been bugging me,” You tell him knowing he’ll believe you since he knows how much you hate spiders,

“So, where then?,” He says putting his sling ring back in his pocket,

You thought about it until you remembered a place you would always go to before coming to Tony’s. You haven’t been there ever since Tony’s death, and wondered if the owner still remembers you. 

“How bout coffee? There’s a small shop a couple blocks from here that I would always go to before coming here,” You say,

“Anywhere you’ll feel comfortable Y/N,” Stephen tells you with a slight smile,

Comfortable. You wouldn’t really feel comfortable there since you would sometimes go with Tony after a all nighter in the lab. But what other place is there to go? The park? 

“Umm.. coffee place sounds okay,” You hesitate to say which makes Stephen look at you with a stern look,

“You sure?,” He says,

“Yeah.. totally fine,” You say not convincing him but start to walk towards the door and into your own car,

This is going to be a long day. You thought to yourself and start to drive once Stephen got inside the car.

****  
The whole ride to the coffee shop was in silence, every once and a while you would see Stephen from the corner of your eye. Sometimes when you we’re focused on driving you would feel his gaze on you and manage to not turn to him while he was staring.

When you arrived at the coffee shop and ordered your coffee, as well with Stephen ordering his Tea. You both sat down in a small booth in the back to have some privacy.

After your drinks had arrived you quickly sipped yours to buy some time on what to say or at least what to start with. You stared down at your coffee and seeing how it’s hot smoke would rise from the liquid. 

“I’m not okay,” You suddenly say still staring at your cup,” I haven’t been for four months,” you add,

Stephen stares at you just like he had been doing ever since your drinks came. He added a pack of sugar and stirred it while still keeping his eyes on you.

“Then let me help,” Stephen says making you look at him with watery eyes and heart pounding in your chest,

“What if... what if I’m not fixable anymore?,” You say voice cracking and believing your own words,

Stephen takes your hand from where it was wrapped around your cup and holds it into his shaky one. He then rubbed it in circles with his thumb and looks at you with his beautiful puppy eyes.

“Y/N, I will never fail you..,” Stephen says grabbing your other hand,

“I won’t let you down. I promise,” Stephen says and kisses both your hands, keeping his eyes locked on yours,

You let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding. Feeling your chest less heavy when you let his words sink into you. You removed a hand from his own to brush away your hair from your face and wipe a tear that had escaped.

You let a small chuckle escape your lips and look anywhere but Stephens eyes. But in an instant Stephen sat bedside you and wrapped an arm over your seat.

You looked up at him and seeing how his eyes have gone soft, seeing how the little light would make his eyes bright. Thats when you couldn’t take the pain anymore and just broke down. Everything that you had been holding inside finally strolled down your face. 

Teardrops coming down rapidly after another. Feeling your chest where your heart was hurting, feeling how empty it has gotten over the past four months. 

You hid your face on Stephens chest and he quickly wrapped his arm around you, holding you tightly feeling his own heart clenching from the way he was seeing you. He hated seeing you hurt, but he never thought you were this hurt. No, he didn’t know how broken you were and he blames himself for only noticing now.

He didn’t know that you still had the same nightmares over and over. He didn’t know how you would stumble into your home at five in the morning feeling nothing but pain and numbness in your veins. He didn’t know how addicted you had became on drinking, knowing that was the only way for you to fall asleep and dream about blackness.

And now, he doesn’t know that you are seeing your dead best friend who is talking to you. There is a lot more that he doesn’t know at the moment, but praying to himself that you will open to him.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry Y/N,” Stephen says tears of his own falling on his face,

He had placed his chin on top of your head and rocking you slowly in his embrace. He would kill just to see you happy and not hurting the way you are right now. He wanted that smile to appear, wanted those beautiful dimples of yours to pop out when you smile widely.

He hasn’t seen them in over four months. Yes he would see you smile but he knew it wasn’t the smile he fell for, wasn’t the smile that would show your dimples when you were really happy. After four months he now knows the truth behind that smile, he now knows how much pain you are in. How much broken pieces that need to be glued back together with loving, and care.

After what seems like eternity from crying you sniffed and slowly got up from Stephens hold. But didn’t get to far since he pulled you back under his arm. You chuckled and let your head fall on the crook of his collar bone, staring at the empty seat in front of you. 

Trying to understand what just had happened you felt like something clicked in you, and for some odd reason you didn’t like that feeling. You didn’t know what it was, but all you know is that it felt... off and wrong.

Comprehending that you had just told Stephen that you are broken inside and need help you felt some weight off your chest, but still having that unknown feeling in the back of your head.

“Want to go home now,?” Stephen says breaking you out of your thoughts,

“I can’t,” You say, not trusting yourself or mind to be alone at the moment,” I still have to take Peter to Mays,” You add,

“Don’t worry I’ll take him,” Stephen says and looks down at your head,

“I don’t know,” You say trying to find a reason so you won’t be alone and get lost in your mind trying to find out what is you are feeling inside now with the wall that broke inside you,

Fortunately that didn’t help and Stephen took your keys from the table and took your hand to lead you to the car. Stephen had gotten use to driving again so it didn’t worry you when he would drive sometimes. He would use spells to help him with his shaky hands and have better grip on the wheel.

He insisted on driving you home since he felt that you should get some rest after what had happened. 

***  
Once home and Stephen telling you he’ll come by the next day to talk some more you smile at him and hug him. Saying goodbye and before leaving he gives you a kiss on the cheek making you blush. 

When he made his portal to Tony’s he waved at you and closed it, leaving you in a cold big garage with your thoughts running around everywhere in your head. You made your way towards the elevator, and once inside your home you looked around to see if anyone was going to show up. Only one that did was Zeus, and was wagging his tail with excitement.

You pet him and head to the kitchen to make him his dinner so you can fall asleep and forget about this day.

Once you finish making his food, you sat down on the couch with the tv on with a random channel and a whiskey on the other hand, getting ready to forget the night.

****  
Ever since that day at the coffee shop with Stephen you felt completely different. You felt like you weren’t you anymore with the constant drinking, and ignoring text messages you would receive. 

Whenever they would call you on why you won’t answer, you would just say you were asleep or busy. ‘Yeah busy with drinking your life away’ you thought,

Depression. For a while now you’ve been thinking that you finally hit depression, which is why you’ve been drinking like it was the most amazing thing you ever had. But drinking isn’t the only thing that you’ve been doing. 

One day when everyone you knew was too busy to visit you, especially Stephen who had to stay in Kamar Taj to train some new students, you got pretty low. You got so low that you decided to go to a alley and buy something to make you feel like you weren’t feeling depressed. 

Yes, thats right. You didn’t want to feel depressed anymore so you bought some crack from a stranger in an alley. How? You still don’t know till this day on your couch. 

The first time you did it, you knew it was only for that one time to numb anything you are feeling. That’s until you craved it some more and bought another bag.

Now here you are sitting on your couch with the small bag with white powder in front of you. You would reach out to untie it but would quickly pull your hand back as if it was hot.

“Really? This is how you turn out after feeling a little depressed,” Tony’s voice comes in your living room,

You look up and see him standing in front of the tv with his arms crossed. You looked down too ashamed to meet his face and look at his disappointment with what you had been doing. 

“I only did it once,” You tell him still looking down,

“So why is that there,” Tony says regarding to the small bag in front of you,

You couldn’t answer. You knew you should get up and toss it down the toilet, but something was stopping you. And deep down you wanted that feeling to keep doing it.

“What would Stephen think,” Tony says walking to the window to look out into the city of New York,

“Why would you care? Your dead,” You say finally looking up but only staring at his back,

Tony looks at you with a glare, and slowly walks to you,” Yes, Yes I am but right now I am your conscious,” He says getting extremely close to you,

“Really? Cause this whole time I thought I was losing my mind,” You say getting up from the couch,

Tony just stared at you, and slowly started to smirk at you,” Maybe you are,” He says and disappears into thin air,

You blink at what just happened, you look around the room to see if he was anywhere but noticed there was banging on your door. Your heart started to pound when you heard who it was.

“Y/N? You home?,” Stephen yells from the door,

You quickly grabbed the white bag tossing it somewhere without looking. You smoothed your black thin sweater and rubbed your eyes before going to the door and opening it revealing a Stephen and his cloak behind him.

“Stephen!,” You say and hug him tightly making him stiffen at the sudden move but instantly hugged you back with a smile,

“What are you doing here I thought you were in Kamar Taj?,” You say and invite him inside before petting his cloak,

“I was but Wong took over so I can come and see you,” He says with a smile,

You give him a gentle smile and hug him on his side,”Aww I missed you to,” 

He chuckles at you and makes his way to the living room making you stiffen since you had blindly tossed the bag, not seeing where it landed.

“Anyways I came here because this guy Evan Ross? Needs help with something,” Stephen says taking an envelope from his jacket,

“You mean Everette?,” You say chuckling at him for getting his name wrong,

Snapping his fingers and pointing at you with a smile on his lips,” Yeah, him,” He says,

“What’s the problem?,” You say taking the envelope and opening to reveal a paper with writing on it,

It was from Fury. Letting the avengers know that he was going to be on vacation for a couple of days and to not contact him until he comes back. Folding the note the way it was and looking at Stephen with confusion.

“What’s the problem with him being on vacation,” Chuckling why Everette would think it would be a problem,

Stephen just looks at you and places his hand on your shoulder, “Y/N, this letter was a month ago,” He says,

You still didn’t understand what he meant so he unfolded the note and pointed to the date written on the paper. 

‘June 10, 2018’ It said in black ink. It was already the end of July and you then realized Fury was missing. You folded the note again and sat down on the couch, And Stephen Kneeling in front of you.

“Why am I only hearing this now?,” You say looking up from your hands where the note was folded,

“Ross didn’t want to bother you in your condition,” Stephen says softly,

You raise your head and look at him with furrowed brows, “My condition?,” You say anger slowly rising in your chest,

He just nods his head and takes your hand in his. Even his touches seem to make you feel better, his eyes when you look at him makes you feel like your floating and nothing around you matters at the moment. His voice, that deep beautiful voice when he talks to you so you won’t get lost in your thoughts.

All he really had to do was call your name and you would come back from your thoughts or calm down when you would get angry. 

“I’m okay,” You say softly and smile at him,

He smiles back at you with his hand still on top of yours. He then started rubbing circles with his numb just like he had done so in the coffee shop.

“We should head to the base then,” You say after staring at his galaxy eyes for what seemed for a good couple of minutes,

He smiles and stands up offering you his hand to help you up. You accept it with a smile and stand face to face, lips only inches apart. You would literally kiss him but you still didn’t know how he felt about you, you didn’t know if he even felt the same way you did.

“Let me just grab my keys,” You say breaking the silence and look down at his kissable lips, 

He did the same to you, only difference was he licked his own as soon as he saw yours. You would have kissed him right there but of course you were afraid you would ruin your friendship with him. So instead you walked up the stairs leaving a Stephen looking back at you.

While you went upstairs to grab your keys Stephen waited patiently downstairs. He sat down on the couch and took out his phone to scroll through anything that caught his eye. What did caught his eye was something white behind the tv, he furrowed his brows together and got up to get a closer look.

But before he could of gotten a better look Zeus comes running down the steps and jumps on to him almost making him fall backwards. Luckily the cloak stopped him from falling and gently pushed him upwards.

“Hey buddy, how you doin huh,” Stephen says scratching him behind his ears, and completely forgets about what he had seen,

Making your way downstairs you see Stephen on the ground playing and scratching Zeus. You smile at them both, feeling warmth in your chest, heart thumping every time you see Stephen smiling or just seeing him in general. 

You wanted this. You wanted to wake up to see this everyday of every morning. Wanted to see that smile that would appear, wanted to cherish him in every possible way. Then thats when it came down to you. You were madly in love with him, and it scared you knowing he probably didn’t feel the same.

“Ready?,” You say to him when he gets up from the floor,

“Yup,” Stephen says and wipes away any hair he has on him,

Walking towards the door, Stephen the polite and gentleman that he is holds it open for you with a smile. You smile back and head out the door before saying goodbye to Zeus.

You were still feeling anxious, and still feeling that you need something to make you stop feeling anything. It was annoying but tried pushing it aside, to not let Stephen know how agitated you were at the moment. The whole way to the base you kept bouncing your leg, but would stop when Stephen would turn to you. He would smile and you’ll return it, but as soon as he focused back on the road you would do the same thing.

Cravings. Cravings is a horrible feeling, craving for more of it. Craving to taste it, to feel like your floating, feel numb around your whole body. But you couldn’t right now, Stephen was right next to you. Plus it was back at your home somewhere in the living room with a dead Tony.

Oh no. You thought not here, but it was too late to take the thought back.   
Looking through the rear mirror you saw him, sitting down in the back seat with his arms crossed.

“What’s wrong?,” Stephen says looking at you but quickly looks back at the road,

Looking at Stephen and then back where Tony was sitting you close your eyes and sigh.

“Nothing,” You say with a smile and look out the window,

He didn’t believe you but dropped with asking more questions. He was worried about you, and was getting frustrated that you wouldn’t tell him the truth. But for now he’ll let you be in your own world, thinking to himself on how he’ll get you to spill.


	3. Ready or Not doesn’t Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going to the Avengers base to get more information about Fury’s absents, it ends up taking a different turn making you question on what to do in the situation.

Once you arrived at the Avenger base, you passed through the armory and into the offices where Everette was waiting. 

Every once and a while you would feel Stephens gaze on you, but would keep looking forward. You had a feeling he knew something that you didn’t but did not want to press on whatever topic he wants to talk about.

Fearing he would mention on how you are really feeling. After the whole incident in the coffee shop, you felt more pain with your emotions. You felt they had been stronger than before, more hurtful then they had been. Which scared you since everything was spreading around your chest, every emotion you think you are feeling is spreading all at once, not being able to keep track of them.

Turning into a corner to a room you saw Ross talking with his partners, but once he saw you he made his way towards you both.

“Y/N,” Ross says with a smile and gives you his hand to shake,

“Agent Ross,” Shaking his hand and looking around the room seeing how everything was full of technology, everywhere you’d turn there would be a monitor,

“Nice to see you out and about,”

“Well got to get out some time right?,” You reply giving him your attention with a smile, he smiles back before looking at Stephen,

“Strange,” Stephen who was standing beside you the whole time and observing the room as well brought his gaze down to Everette when he greeted him,

“Evan,” Stephen says with a smile making Ross furrowed his brows but making you crack a chuckle since he forgot again,

“It’s Everette,” Ross says with a serious tone,

All Stephen does is look at you before chuckling in embarrassment, ”Right.. Everette,” He says with a hint of pink on his cheeks,

“Follow me,” Ross leads the both of you out of the room and into the hallway,

He took you both to a new laboratory that you didn’t recognize, you never heard Pepper mentioning they had build a new lab, until Ross said it was Tony’s lab but newer since Pepper wanted to remodel it. You nodded in response and feeling a little sad that everything Tony had used or made was being moved to storage.

Feeling your mood changing Stephen holds your hand in his, making you look at him and receive a small smile, one that appeared on your face as well. Entering the new laboratory you see Bruce behind a advanced technology table with all kinds of numbers and codes.

“Bruce?,” You say trying to believe you were really seeing him,

Looking up from his work, looking more exhausted then ever he takes off his glasses and still manages to put a huge grin on his face. He quickly goes around the table to give you a bone crushing hug, feeling like the air had been sucked out of your body.

“Y/N! How are you feeling?,” He says hugging you tightly,

“Like I can’t breathe,” Quietly you let out a light chuckle, feeling your bones crack under his force,

“Oh sorry,” Quickly letting you go and smiling at you,

“Strange nice to see you again,” Bruce’s says shaking Stephens hand,

“Nice to see you to Banner,” Stephen reply’s back and puts his hand on your back and starts rubbing it where Bruce had hugged you tightly, trying to relieve the soreness he had left from his hug,

After getting your breathing back to normal and stretching your body from the tight hug you turn around when you hear a familiar voice coming into the lab.

It was Rocket, he was arguing with Quill about something. Like usual. You laugh at them when Rocket threatens Quill that he’ll leave a “surprise” if he doesn’t admit he’s the captain of their ship. The Guardians had been living at the Avenger base ever since the fight, they got along quite well with the workers and each even had their own room. 

You had a nice bond with each of them but would hardly talk to them since you had been busy trying to end your life by drinking. Groot however would always be by your side no matter what when you would visit the base. Even if he was still growing he seems to be getting stronger each day.

“Hey hey, do this later we have business to take care of,” Ross tells the arguing couple, making them turn their attention to him before secretly hitting each other,

“Y/N! finally you come to see us,” Quill says with a wide smile and gives you a side hug,

“He’s been rooting that you’ll come,” Rocket murmurs while jumping to the table where all of you were standing around,

“Dude.. no I wasn’t,” Quill says feeling embarrassed but tries to hide it with a chuckle,

You’ve noticed Quill has been more opened with others after Gamora’s death, especially with Rocket. It has been four months after the fight and he seems like he’s doing very well, looks slightly happy and healthy.

And then there’s you. Constantly drinking to end the nightmares and feeling nothing but numbness, being paranoid about any little thing, trying drugs to not feel anything. Now, you are seeing and talking to Tony who is dead, but seems like he isn’t.

“Now who are we missing?,” Ross says looking at everyone, 

“Me,” Tony’s voice is heard behind you making you flinch but hide it by pretending you got the chills,

You try ignoring his voice throughout the whole time Ross was giving his plan on how to find Fury. There was times where Tony would say remarks when Ross would say something which would make you chuckle, and earning a look from Stephen. He would furrow his brows but would bring his attention back to Ross, taking little glances at you from the corner of his eye.

After what seemed like an eternity of Ross’s plan, he each gave you a folder on where was the last time Fury was seen. Opening the folder you saw a photo of Fury in a bar and a crumbled recipe next to the photo. You scanned the photo and recipe, looking to see when he had went to this bar. It was a bar called “La Locas” in Mexico City.

You furrowed your eyebrows together, never really thought Fury was into any bars in Mexico City. He was always so secretive with his life that you hardly knew anything about him, every time you would try to have a life talk with him, he would just change the topic around. 

Flipping the photo you saw there was three more, one where he was at a beach, and the last photo of him exiting a strip club. You chuckle and remove the photo from the paper clip.

“Wow, never knew he was the strip club kinda guy,” You say flipping the photo around to show it to everyone,

Everyone chuckles at your comment and get back to observing their own folder. As you were going through the information you were given you felt like someone was staring at you. Brushing the feeling away thinking it was probably Stephen looking over your shoulder to look at your information, but then you felt air on the back of your neck making you look up from your lashes.

You stiffen when you felt more hot air, quickly turning around you see Drax standing behind you. You rolled your eyes and slapped him with your folder.

“Jesus Drax! don’t do that,” You say putting your hand over your heart feeling it faster since you really did get scared at the moment,

Stephen looked up from his folder when he heard you yell, then let a smile appear when he saw you putting a hand on your chest. He laughed at you and looked back down to his folder.

“You’ll get used to it, he’s been doing that for some odd reason,” Quill says to you without looking up,

“Yeah, some stupid reason,” Rocket adds making Drax glare at him,

“Well it’s weird.. so stop,” You tell Drax but all he does is stand there in silence.

You furrowed your eyebrows, not understanding why he is so quiet or not moving. Before you can ask why Rocket beats you to the punch.

“He believes if he doesn’t talk or move he’ll be invisible,” He says sitting on the table letting his little feet dangle in the air,

“But I can still see him,” 

“Not to him you can’t,” Rocket reply’s back,

You raised your eyebrow at him and then look back at Drax, he was still standing there. Not moving. You just give a low chuckle and turn around, only to see Tony observing his new lab.

You saw how he would look at every detail with silence. Seeing how he would reach out with his hand to touch the new monitors, new computers, new desks. Everything that was new he would observe it. He picked up what seemed to be a frame of a photo, you saw how a small smile appeared but then faded.

You didn’t know why but you felt his pain, his sadness, and how he thought about trying to help but couldn’t anymore. Everything he would feel, it would come rushing to you instantly. Every emotion, anger, confusion, feeling lost, everything seemed to be flowing through your veins.

Then you realized those were your emotions, not his. Everything you thought that he was feeling, was only your doing. It was your emotions coming out. You didn’t want to admit it that they were yours because you didn’t want to believe in what you were feeling.

Getting lost into your thoughts and staring blankly ahead, Bruce furrowed his brows at you when he saw how deep in thought you seemed to be.

“Y/N you okay?,” Breaking out of your thoughts and looking at Bruce who was looking at you with concern,

“Yeah, just thinking,” You lie and clear your throat, you turn and see Stephen looking at you but quickly drops his eyes to his folder,

You saw how he looked worried once again but shrugged it off by looking back down to your own folder. Too busy and lost in thought trying to figure out exactly where Fury was last seen, you didn’t hear Ross explaining something to everybody. 

Only thing you caught him saying was Fury’s hotel had been turn into a mess and leaving possibly clues on where he can be. 

“Okay so what’s the plan,” You hear Bruce’s voice in the room,

Waiting for Ross to reveal the plan, but only getting silence makes you look up from the folder only to see every pair of eyes on you. You furrowed your eyebrows at them.

“Why is everyone staring at me?,” You ask confused on why everyone is staring or looks like they are waiting for you to say something,

“What’s the plan?,” Bruce repeats his question causing you to get even more confused,

“How should I know?,”

“Because a leader always has a plan,” Ross adds and fixes the pile of papers spread out on the table,

Leader? why is he saying it directly to me? You thought to yourself. Then it slowly started to click. Last month Everette had came by your place asking if you were interested in joining the Avengers and taking over the role of Steve to lead them to missions. You had declined his invitation, not feeling ready to fight or to be in charge of everyone else.

Everette respected your wish and didn’t ask again until he thought you were ready for it. Unfortunately you declined again, telling him you didn’t think you would fit for that position. He wouldn’t stop bothering you about it, never rested until you finally agreed in taking the role. You never did, mostly because that was Steve’s job and taking over it just felt wrong. 

You also wouldn’t take it since you knew you weren’t really a leader type, you were more into building things and considered yourself as a mechanic like Tony. Being on the sidelines while all the commotion was happening. When Tony had ideas for making new armor for the Avengers you would always help him, or when he was away he would put you in charge to take over his job. 

Building things is all you really knew and only wanted to do. Being in charge of the Avengers wasn’t something you had in mind, yes you will admit there would be times where you would make great plans or help them with a plan, but you never saw yourself as a leader to anyone.

“No. No way,” You say chuckling thinking they are crazy for even thinking on putting you in charge,

“We all came to an agreement and put you in charge,” Bruce says,

You look at everyone but saw how Stephen was trying to avoid your eyes by looking away.

“What about Nat? She looks like she knows what’s she’s doing. I just build stuff for you guys!,” You raise your voice at them feeling irritated that this conversation is being brought up again,

“Which is another reason why you should be in charge Y/N, your perfect for this. Imagine the things you make for us, the ideas you have we can save more lives if you just take it,” Bruce adds leaning his hands on the table,

“I-I can’t,” You put the folder on the table and take a breather, all of this was to much pressure for you.

They all put too much faith on you, faith that would soon turn into poison. You are slowly losing your mind, how can you lead them into battle and win when you can’t even win your own battles in your head. 

Anger, and anxiety were combining together causing it to be too much to handle that you had to put a hand over your eyes slowly but not noticeable you were trying to steady your breathing.

“Look I’ve got a meeting to get to,” Ross says looking down at his watch and continues, “Just rest on it alright?,” He slides a glossy paper towards you and leaves the room,

****  
After Ross had left and leaving you to your thoughts you grabbed the paper and left the room as well. You needed to be alone to calm down, you quickly felt like anxiety was about to take over you. Having all of this pressure is something you don’t want to have at the moment. Everything felt like it was closing in on you, making every wall look smaller.

Being a leader is like being the president for the Avengers. You have to make sure they understand the plan, make sure everyone is safe, make sure everyone comes back alive. Building new armor, building new gadgets for everyone and making sure it works during combat is enough for your schedule, now they want to add for you to become in charge? You barely manage to keep yourself sane, and breathing. How can they have so much faith in you to keep them safe and alive during missions? 

You wouldn’t even go on the missions, it would be rare if you had. It’s not that you can’t take care of yourself, it’s just you didn’t want to get involved into the violence, you wanted to live a normal life. A normal life that doesn’t involve you checking your shoulder every once and a while for any threat that comes your way. 

Seeing how Tony would hardly get sleep due to all the battles he has gone through was enough for you to stay out of the fights as much as possible. You hardly got sleep now due to the deaths of your closest friends, and the horrible nightmares that constantly play every day. Now Ross wants you to ‘Rest on it’? He really can be very annoying and stubborn sometimes. Most of the times. Whenever he wants something big from you he always makes you feel frustrated.

Now here you are sitting in Tony’s old office with a paper that says ‘Avengers’ on the top in big red bold letters. You have re-read tho whole thing more than five times almost having each sentence memorized in your head. But you can never seem to look away at the end of the sentence.

‘With this letter you are agreeing to become an Avenger/ Leader of the group, and leading them to victory in each mission’

That last sentence is locked in your head with a chain wrapped around it. Sighing in frustration you rub your eyes, feeling a headache coming from all the times you re-read the paper in front of you. You close your eyes but reopen them when you hear a familiar voice.

“Are you gonna sign it?,” Stephen says gesturing to the pen you have beside you,

Looking down at the paper once again you inhale and exhale quickly, definitely feeling the headache coming out faster than ever.

“I don’t know,” You tell him looking up and leaning back in your chair,

“I think you should,” He says making you squint your eyes at him,

Why is he agreeing with them? You thought. You knew he knew about your condition, well at least some of it. He knew how bad you were with your anxiety, so how can he possibly think it was also a good idea for you to become in charge?

“Did you know about this?,” You ask him when you started remembering how quiet he was during the argument and trying to avoid your eyes, 

Stephen clears his throat and leans on the doorway crossing his arms before speaking, “They need you,” is all he says making you scoff and roll your eyes at him,

“Is this why you wanted me to come? Is Fury even missing?!,” You raise your voice at him and get up from the chair to stand by the table,

“No. He’s in the Bahamas as far as I know,” You glared at him feeling anger slowly rise inside,

You couldn’t believe he lied to you, out of everyone you never thought he would lie to you. Yes it is Stephen Strange. Master of the Mystic Arts, ex Neurosurgeon, Stubborn- show off as hell, but not once has he ever lied to you. He would get cocky, or stubborn with you sometimes but he would never pull something like this just to get you to agree. He would never try and force you into something you did not want to do, so why is he doing it now? 

“Wow.. that’s a low blow Stephen,” You tell him as you turn around to sit back down on the chair,

“I only did it because they’re right, otherwise I wouldn’t of done it,” He says entering the office to close the door,

“You didn’t have to lie,”

“It was the only way to get you to come with me,” You stayed quiet knowing he was right, if he told you the truth you would of never even open the door for him,

“And how are they right exactly?,” You say looking down at the paper, staring at it as if had moved or just staring at it to make it disappear, 

Pulling a chair from its place and dragging it closer to the table Stephen sits down before speaking, “They need a leader, and your well fit for that position.. you know everything, and know how to make things to make them more better,” He says,

Seeing how you weren’t going to say anything he decided to continue,

“I was once a rich, asshole neurosurgeon who thought nothing but being and staying perfect. Never in my life I would of thought that I would get in a horrific accident, lose faith, and my money, then later become Master of the Mystic Arts. I still remember when I was scared of becoming the next Sorcerer Supreme, I did not want it because I felt like I wasn’t ready just like how you feel right now,” Stephen says making you look at him. He really has a way with words and it annoys you because they would work,

“What’s your point?,” You tell him wanting him to say it already since you know all about his past already,

“An old teacher once told me “No one ever is, you don’t get to chose your time”,” Grabbing your hand in his and staring into your eyes he continues, “Y/n, you don’t have to be ready to become the next leader. As long as you have someone else by your side or have something to fight for than you will always be ready,”

“And I know Steve would be proud of you for taking his place,” He hesitates before adding, “Including Tony,” 

With that you had to look away, feeling tears building up and threatening to spill at thought of Tony being proud of you for keeping the Avengers going and protecting the world. Looking behind Stephen you saw how Tony was leaning on a storage cabinet, he was looking at you with a soft smile. 

He nods at you and you bring your eyes down to the paper that’s in front of you. You stare at the blank spot where it says Signature, you hesitate to move your hand but slowly remove your hand from Stephens to grab the pen. You let it hover at the spot, still debating to agree and become the next person to be in charge of the Avengers, you look up at Stephen and see how he’s staring at you with a comforting smile.

“I’ll be there with you no matter what,” He says placing his hand on your free one and rubs it softly,

Looking down you inhale before letting it out slowly, and finally make your hand move. Seeing how the black ink is printing your name in a cursive writing. Once you finish you drop the pen on the table as if it had shocked you, you glance up to Stephens beautiful orbs seeing how he felt relieved that you had agreed.

Getting up from his chair he takes your hand to raise you up from your chair as well. You accepted his hand and instantly wrap your arms around his waist burying your face in his toned chest, hearing his heart beat makes you feel relaxed. He smiles to himself and wraps both his arms around your small body and places his cheek on top of your head. 

Enjoying each other’s embrace in silence, you two stay like that for a good five minutes before separating when you hear a knock at the door. When the door slowly opens you see Bruce poking his head inside with a shy smile.

“Did she sign it?,” He says making you both chuckle,

“Yes Bruce I did,” You reply to his question with a smile,

“Good, that’s good. I’m glad that’s out of the way,” He says opening the door more,

“Me too, it’s a relief knowing you guys will have someone to keep you safe,” Stephen chirps in and looks at you with a smile,

You smile back before grabbing the paper and handing it to Bruce, “Can you give it to Ross for me?,”

“Of course,” Bruce says taking the paper and turns to leave the room,

When he leaves and is out of earshot you grab Stephen by the arm stopping him before he leaves as well.

“Thank you,” You tell him looking down at your feet,

Smiling he puts a finger under your chin to make you stare at his eyes. He then places his hand on your cheek, feeling your cheeks burning at his touch. You stare into his eyes as he lowers his down to your lips, licking his and looks back up to your eyes before speaking.

“It was my pleasure,” He says with a small smile,

After staring in each other’s eyes for what seems like forever he starts to lean in. Seeing how his green ones would quickly look from your lips to your eyes, fearing you would reject or shove him away at any moment. Taking the hint that you won’t he starts getting closer to your lips, but before he can even make contact with yours, the sound of a phone ringing causes him to back away.

‘Wow, now that is definitely not awkward’ you think to yourself. Clearing your throat you start to take your phone out of your pockets seeing the ID says Natasha. You silence the call and look up when Stephen starts to speak,

“I’ll wait for you in the car so we can go pick up Peter,” He says after you mute your phone,

You nod in response and watch him leave the room. Your heart was hammering in your chest, you were so afraid that he never liked you like that but now only coming to conclusion that he has the same feelings as you. You were nervous, yet relieved that you now know he feels the same way. 

Nervous because he always makes you feel nervous every time you see him or whenever he’s around you. You felt relieved because now you know how he truly feels about you, which scares you as well not knowing if he was interested in a relationship at the moment or if you were ready for one as well. Feeling frustrated once again you let out a heavy sigh and answer the call, trying your best to answer without any frustration, or stressed.

“Hey Nat!,” You answer with a smile focusing on making it sound like you were doing well even if you weren’t,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter is being written!!! Stay tuned ⚠️


	4. Long Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper ends up doing a party for you after finding out about you joining the Avengers. Then a speech happens causing you to get an anxiety attack.

After picking up Peter from his school, and dropping him off at his aunts Stephen had drove you back to your home. The whole way was in awkward silence, you knew he wanted to talk about what had happened in the office. You would see how he would open his mouth to say something but quickly closing it when he didn’t find the right words. 

You had never felt so eager to get home and forget about what happened. A kiss was about to happen, only a phone ruining the moment and making everything really awkward. 

Finally after a couple of hours in the car with Stephen you finally arrived at your penthouse. Instead of him going inside the garage you had told him to park in the main entrance since you wanted to grab your mail, a lie you said just so you won’t be in the car any longer. Parking in the front and turning the car off you look at him in shock, not thinking he would want to come inside seeing it was time for him to go back to work.

“Listen.. back at the office..,” He starts but stays quiet not sure what else to say,

You look down at your hands seeing them slightly shaking, probably due to the fact that the A/C was hitting you, or just because you were nervous, or maybe still anxious for wanting having something in your body to easy you down.

Your leg was fiddling and bouncing around too much that you were afraid he would noticed, so to end the conversation early you played dumb and decided to not bring up the fact you two almost kissed.

“If it wasn’t for you I’d probably would of just ripped the contract in half,” You say and receive a confused, almost hurt look in his eyes, you hated seeing him like that but you honestly don’t feel like hearing him say it was probably not a good idea in the beginning,

“Ohh yeah... your welcome,” He states looking forward before clenching his jaw, 

Another wave of awkward silence fills the car, you couldn’t bare it any longer so you start to grab your house keys from your sweater.

“Well I’m gonna head out so you can get back to the sanctum,” You tell him with a smile and open the door to not see his broken eyes,

“Yeah, I’ll see you later then,” He sounded more angry mixed with hurt, which is the last thing you would want to do to him,

After saying goodbye you closed the door, without looking at you he waves and starts the car up again and burns tire as he drives away. Feeling rage boil inside of you, rising up in your veins you turn around to head into your home. Opening your door and slamming it shut making pictures shake on the wall and causing Zeus to perk up quickly from the couch.

Ignoring his worried whine you head to the kitchen and open the top cabinet, taking the last full bottle of whiskey. Placing it on the counter to take out a cup and start to pour it all the way to the brim. Caring less that it spilled over and wetting the island, you start chugging it down feeling the nice burn down your throat, feeling warmth inside your chest as it passes and travels down.

Once the first cup goes empty you start filling it up again but stop and stare at the bottle. Tossing the cup into the sink you grab the Jack Daniels bottle and drink out of it like if it was water. Feeling drips of it’s hazel brown liquid down the side of your mouth, you couldn’t think straight. Feeling hatred towards yourself for hurting Stephen, for being a coward, being afraid. You quickly wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and desperately look around for that white powder. 

You looked around the whole living room, under the table, under the couches, between the cushions, and making a mess just to have that taste.   
Yelling in frustration and anger you violently throw your whiskey bottle at the wall making it shattered into a million pieces onto the floor. Sighing heavily you sit down on the unmade couch and let the tears fall out. You sit there for quite some time until Zeus quietly jumps on the couch beside you and starts to lick your tears away causing you to laugh at him. 

“That’s my good boy,” Voice cracking as you speak,

You sniff and wipe away your tears and saliva from your face with a shaky hand. You inhale and exhale, clenching your fist and unclenching them to get them to stop shaking. Once they stopped you leaned on the couch and patted Zeus on his back before getting up to clean up the mess you had made. 

After tossing the broken glass away, and mopping the floor you went upstairs to have a smoke out on your balcony. Seeing how the sun was setting, how New York was lighting up as it got darker made you seem relaxed. Letting your frustrations fade away, and slowly inhaling its New York brisk.

Taking the small joint from your pocket and lighting it up you take a long drag, holding it’s smoke inside, feeling numb and light headed as you hold it in. Slowly feeling relaxed as it flows in your veins, letting your anxiety and anger flush away as you take another long drag. Soon you start feeling like nothing even mattered at the moment, like the world just muted and only thing you can hear is your own breathing.

You sit down on the chair and stare blankly ahead into the bright lights of New York. Eyes low and red from the high you were on, they start to slowly close. You fought the urge to keep them open but failed and let them closed, falling asleep peacefully outside your balcony with a smiling Stephen playing in your mind.

*******  
It has been three weeks since you last spoke to Stephen. From those weeks you would constantly smoke, drink and ignore the world, until you were needed by Ross and you would sober up. Great leader right? A leader drinking and doing drugs to hide her emotions is a great example for the team.

More weeks without speaking to Stephen has passed, every once and a while you’ll call his phone but only received his voicemail. After the fifth time of getting his voicemail you decide to not call him anymore, thinking to yourself that he is avoiding you and is probably still hurt or angry with you. It was now the end of the week, and you were getting dressed to go to a party to celebrate and congratulate you on being the new commander for the Avengers.

Once Pepper had heard the news about you becoming in charge she was thrilled and instantly made plans for a party. You tried convincing her to not make one in her condition, but she brushed you away and continued writing things for the upcoming party.

Now here you are looking at yourself in the mirror, admiring your outfit for the event. To not get too much attention you decided to go with a plain tank top, black button up on top, dark blue jeans, and some black and white sneakers. It wasn’t a huge event, just a small get together with the Avengers, couple workers from the base, Ross, Natasha, Clint, his wife and possibly Stephen if he’s not too busy with ignoring you.

Feeling nervous to see him after not seeing or hearing from him after a couple weeks. You were hoping if he did show up you would not bump into him on accident, and being tongue tide.

Once you finished doing your hair and putting your favorite perfume you grabbed your keys and headed down your car to leave for the party. 

Arriving at Tony’s there was more cars than you expected, looking up to the glowing house and seeing all kinds of lights shining through the windows, you let out a sigh along with a soft chuckle and thinking how can a pregnant women do all of this by herself. Shaking your head you headed towards the doors as people greeted you as well congratulating you on the way. 

Pushing the door open you hear loud music coming from the whole house. Upbeat music playing throughout the house, as you make your way inside you were looking around to try and find any familiar face. Some people would smile and wave while others would pat you on your back congratulating you.

Going up the stairs you see more people but don’t see any of the Avengers yet. Turning your head when you hear an excited voice calling your name and seeing it was Pepper.

“You made it!,” Hugging you and placing a glowing necklace around your neck with a grin,

“Well couldn’t miss all of this,” You reply smiling as you move your arm gesturing to the whole house,

“Good,” Pepper says and grabs your hand leading you towards the rest of the Avengers, “We’re over here come on,”

Natasha, Rhodes, Clint, Laura and Bruce were all sitting on the couch talking to one another. While Rocket, Quill, Thor, and Ross we’re at the bar minding their own business and having a conversation of their own. Then you saw T’Challa, and Shuri coming from the other side of the stairs with drinks in their hands and Groot sitting on a stool next to Rocket. Since Peter was still a minor he wasn’t allowed to come, he whined about it all day but with a stern look from May he dropped the act.

Only person that seems to be missing at the moment was Stephen. You were somewhat relieved that he wasn’t there, you didn’t think you could of see him at the moment. Still nervous and scared to even face him after what had happened between you two.

Walking over to the couch where everyone was Bruce instantly sees you and gets up to give you a hug. Then it was Nat, Clint, Laura then Rhodes at the end to give you a hug as well. Sitting down on the couch next to Bruce you easily joined their conversation, talking about how Clint and the kids were doing, and basically catching up with them. 

After a while of talking, sharing laughs with each other and having a couple of drinks you excused yourself to head to the bathroom. Feeling a little hot with the drinks, you splashed some cold water on your face to cool down. Feeling a good buzz coming your way from the mixed drinks Thor had made himself. He may be god of thunder, but he sure as hell can make a strong Rum Old Fashioned. 

After drying your face and staring at your own reflection, seeing the hint of pink on your cheeks from the drinking you finally make your way back to the party. You head to the bar to grab a water to ease down your buzz even though you want the feeling to stay, but fight against it since you need to drive back home. 

You sit on the stool and admire everyone in the room, seeing smiles appear in each face. Seeing Pepper on the couch smiling at Natasha as she rubs her growing stomach with a smile of her own. Looking at Bruce and Thor having a conversation about god knows what but having a smile on your face when you seem them crack a laugh. Then you see Rocket and Quill arguing once again about something and see how Quill flips off Rocket with a grin. Then you see Rhodes, T’Challa, Ross and Shuri in one corner talking as well. Everyone you care and see as a friend was there, enjoying each other’s company after everything they’ve all been through. Each and everyone in the room had at least lost something or someone close to them and yet they still managed to put a smile on their face to show how strong they truly are.

“Not drinking at your own party?,” A deep yet familiar voice is heard behind you, making you tense up in your stool.

Turning in your seat you see Stephen with a smile on his face. He looked exhausted and pale as if he hadn’t slept for days, maybe even weeks.

He had a white button up with the first two buttons undone and had it untucked from his black jeans, a black blazer on top, and some black and white sneakers on. His hair was slicked to the side only having a few lose strands going down his face. Coming more closer towards you and into the little light from the bar you can see he had a cut on his eyebrow, and a small one on his lower lip. 

“Was. And you look like crap,” You tell him with no emotion but having a voice screaming inside to get away from him,

He smiles at you shyly and looks down before looking up at your eyes again, “Sorry I’m late, had to take care of some things with Wong,” 

Humming and taking a sip of your water you reply back, “Explains the paleness and bruises,” 

Instead of replying he smiles at you and sits down on the stool next to yours and orders himself a beer. You turn to face the bar and see Stephen taking a sip of his beer bottle, seeing how those beautiful lips wrap around the rim of the bottle. You look away when he stops drinking and looks your way, if it wasn’t for the little light of the bar he would fully see you blushing. 

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you but... you don’t answer,” You say trying to start a conversation so you won’t be stuck in a awkward silence,

He takes another sip of his beer and stares at it before speaking, “Kamar Taj, been training some new students as well with dealing with some new spells with Wong and...other stuff,” he hesitates before saying that last part,

Freezing at his response you look at him from the corner of your eye. You knew he was talking about you and how things were left between you two. Having the feeling it was about to turn into a discussion. As much as you didn’t want to you knew it was going to pop up sooner or later. Mostly sooner.

“Stuff as in?,” You ask before even thinking about it,

He looks at you with a raised eyebrow looking like if he should go ahead and say it but stays quiet instead. Even if it was your fault for hurting him, you still didn’t like the fact that he was keeping something from you.

You felt like a hypocrite since you are keeping a lot of things from him and not liking the idea that he is probably doing the same thing. You shouldn’t be feeling like this towards him since he has been there for you no matter what, but you couldn’t help it. 

“When you say “Stuff” your talking about me, aren’t you?,” You say scoffing and looking at him with a hard stare,

“Never said that,” He replies and stares back at you with the same expression only his is more angrier and irritated,

“Well you’ve been avoiding me for weeks so it’s definitely about me,” Breaking the intense staring you look towards the bar and keep your eyes locked with the bottles of alcohol that are neatly lined up in each shelf, Having the craving of it’s burning sensation down your throat, and numbness in your body. 

Letting the feeling win over, you signal the bartender ordering a rum and coke with a shot of tequila. Completely ignoring the stare you were receiving from Strange you take a long sip from your drink, enjoying the burning in your throat you close your eyes.

Seeing you order your drink and frowning at your sudden crave for alcohol makes him more curious about you on why you were acting this way.

“I told you. Had some things to take care of,” He says but continues when he sees you ordering another drink and realizing you came alone, “You shouldn’t drive under the influence,” 

You look at him and give him a sarcastic smile before speaking, “Oh I’m just following on what you said, it’s my party..I should be drinking,” Winking at him and giving him a stern look you leave him alone at the bar and make your way towards the rest of the Avengers,

He literally hasn’t been there for more than an hour and your already picking an argument with him. Great now he will hate you more. Nice job Y/n. You think to yourself. 

For the rest of the night you tried your best to avoid and ignore him as much as possible. Whenever you you would grab another drink he would stare at you with a hard stern look, you would turn somewhere else to avoid his gaze but after getting irritated by his staring you decided to stare back. Smirking at him you raise your drink to your lips and wink at him before chugging it down.

You would do that every time he’ll look your way, seeing how he would clench his jaw and looks like he’s getting more irritated but also more angrier by the way his chest quickly rises. You chuckle at yourself thinking you had made him annoyed as well.

The sound of a clinging noise brought everyone’s attention and the music being lowered by the DJ. Turning around you see Ross was the one making the noise to have everybody’s attention. When everyone had his attention he started to speak.

“We are gathered here today to congratulate..,” He starts to say but gets interrupted by Clint,

“Come on Ross, what are we at a wedding?,” Clint says making everyone chuckle but receives a glare from Ross and a smack by his wife,

“And to celebrate on a new member joining The Avengers and becoming a leader,” Ross continues and lifts his drink in the air towards you before speaking again, “Y/N this is a new chapter for you and we are gladly to see it, and we fully trust you on whatever mission comes are way,”

You tensed up at the word ‘trust’ but don’t show it, instead you let a small smile out hoping it doesn’t look forced. 

“We have faith in you to keeping this world safe from any danger and bringing us back home,” Ross adds making you feel like you can’t breathe, 

“To Y/N,” Ross says out loud,

Everyone raises their drink in the air, and repeat your name. You smile and nod your head to everyone even if you feel like everything is closing in on you. The walls are getting smaller by the second, you feel your chest tightening feeling it heavy that you can’t breathe. Having an anxiety attack in front of everyone was something you do not want so you quickly went out the door when everyone got back to their own group.

Pushing the door and going down the steps towards the beach you inhale the salty wind, letting the fresh air sink into your chest. Feeling it less heavy but still breathing inside and letting it out slowly while counting to four like Stephen had taught you.

You feel tears building up in your eyes from so much pressure and anger that you are feeling at the moment. Every time you would get an anxiety attack you would end up crying, hating the fact that you get anxiety every time you over think things. The reason why you feel like crying is because everyone who will fight beside you are putting so much trust and faith in you to keep them alive and winning every mission without any consequences. Having all the pressure on your chest feels like rocks are piling up and not letting you breathe. But taking a slower breath you manage to stop the tears from coming out. 

After calming your breathing outside the cooling air you pick up a small rock and toss in the ocean, seeing it skip on the water before it disappears in the water.

“Been looking for you,” You hear a deep voice, turning you see Stephen walking towards you with his hands in his pockets,

“Looks like you found me,” You tell him to tired and buzz to answer in a sarcastic way,

Bending down and picking up a rock, Stephen flicks his wrist and sends the rock into the water letting it skip like yours but of course his lasted longer before going inside. You look at him with a ‘Show off’ look making him chuckle and putting a smile on your face.

Letting silence sweep between you two as you both stared out into the dark ocean. Hearing it’s waves coming on the sand, and letting the salty crisp of air hitting your skin and feeling refreshing. Breaking the silence Stephen decides to speak first.

“Y/n I’m sorry,”

“Don’t. You shouldn’t apologize,” You tell him feeling guilty for letting him think it was his fault that their is a tense connection between the both of you,

“Yes I do, I was being an ass,” He says making you stare at him,

You hated the fact that he was blaming himself for whatever is going on between you two, he shouldn’t but the blame on himself when everything started off with you.

“No you had a reason to be an ass, I was acting like a total.. bitch,” You tell him letting out a breath that seems to be hanging in your chest for quite some time,

“I’m sorry,” You add making him look into your eyes, he smiled at you before letting out a breath of his own,

Feeling the mood between you two changing and feeling it going back to normal you smile back and give him a hug. Placing your ear on his chest to hear his steady heart, you close your eyes at the sound and breathe in his scent. The smell of his high class perfume, mixed with his beautiful shampoo. He had his own arms wrapped around your small frame, and leaning his cheek on top of your head. Staying like that for quite some time, neither of you thinking about letting go.

Hearing voices coming down the steps you break the hug, seeing it was a couple of people running towards the water while some wrestled each other on the sand. You and Stephen chuckle at the scene, he then turns his eyes back to you and just locks his eyes with yours. You had the urge of wanting to kiss him there and then, but fearing he wouldn’t react the same way and just leave instantly. A small yelp broke your staring and turning to the group of people to see someone being thrown into the water.

“We should get inside,” Stephen says when he feels you shivering from the cold,

“Okay,” Nodding your head you start to walk back towards the house, rubbing your upper arms to get them to warm up. Maybe coming outside wasn’t a good idea after all, 

“Wait I got you something ,” Stephen states stopping you from walking up the stairs and starts digging inside his pocket of his blazer, pulling out a small red box and opening it revealing a silver necklace with a small heart hanging from the chain,

You smile at the gift feeling your chest warm up. You take the necklace from it’s box and place it on your palm, admiring it and gently touching it. You turn the heart around and see it was engraved with the words, ‘Till the end of time’

“Stephen..,” Feeling lost of words, your only able to look up at him,

“Call it a... congratulation gift,” He says with a smirk but you can see how he’s madly blushing under the small light given from the moon,

“I love it,” Holding the necklace in your hand you bring it to your chest and smile at him before giving him a tight hug,

He hugs you back but steps away to take the necklace from your hand, so he can go behind you to place it around your neck. Feeling a chill run all over your body when the cold heart makes contact on your bare chest, looking down at it you touch it with your finger and smile. Little things like this make you fall more for him, he literally doesn’t have to try — any small thing he does always makes your heart beat faster. 

Taking your hand in his and intertwining your fingers together you both walk back to the house. You lean your head on his upper shoulder and hug his arm with your free hand as you walk, smelling his cologne right away. Once outside the door you turn to him before he can open it. Staring at his beautiful orbs.

“Till the end of time?,” You ask him, repeating the engraved words on your new necklace,

Smiling at you with awe he grabs both your hands before speaking, “Till the end of time,”

“Good. Because I can’t do this alone,” 

“And you won’t,” He says and kisses your knuckles before opening the door to go inside intertwining your fingers again as he leads you into the warmth of the home. 

********  
After trying to convince Pepper to end the party early she agreed when she realized she was exhausted and hurting from her back. The party had ended at Midnight, once you helped Pepper to her room and gently laying her down on her bed you went back downstairs to clean, the least you can do since Pepper was the one who planned the night for you. 

Bruce, Thor, and Stephen helped collect all kinds of empty bottles from the tables and floor, stuffing them in large bags before tossing them outside on the porch. You, Nat, Shuri and Laura swept pieces of trash and cleaned up any plastic plates or cups you would see. While everyone was cleaning something, Rocket was passed out on the counter top of the bar and Quill taking pictures of him for blackmail. T’Challa and Clint were making sure everyone who had been invited would be informed that the party was over and kindly escort them towards their cars. Ross had left the party earlier after you and Stephen had enter the house. Groot however was sitting on the couch munching on a bowl of chips while seeing something on the tv.

Finally having the house clean, not fully but enough to not have Pepper waking up in the morning to clean. Saying goodbye to the Avengers and thanking them for coming you walk out with Stephen. He had made a portal to your home before you can even touch your car, it was almost going to be one in the morning and there was no way in hell he was letting you drive at that time. 

Chuckling you stepped inside the glowing portal with Stephen behind you. Yawning and feeling exhausted from a long night, you were trying your best to stay up on your feet. Zeus had made his way towards the both of you and stood near Stephen so he can be pet.

Rubbing your eye you turn to Stephen when you hear a sparking noise, you see how he was reaching inside the portal and bringing his arm back before closing it. He had a pair of black sweats in his hands and looked at you, you smile at him knowing what he’s going to ask.

“The bed is all yours,” You tell him with a smile, smiling back he goes into the restroom to change,

Hearing the door close you quickly make your way towards your own bedroom, going up the stairs slowly making sure to not fall backwards due to exhaustion. Opening your door you head to your closet to get your pajamas, grabbing some dark grey sweats you take off your jeans and slip them on. You walk towards your bed to undo the covers, hearing heavy steps going up the stairs you look up to see Stephen in your doorway with his black sweats and a white T-Shirt.

You didn’t remember seeing him getting a shirt but coming to a thought he had made another portal to grab a more comfortable shirt to sleep with. 

“Good night,” He says from the doorway,

“Night,” Smiling and waving at you before going into the room next to yours,

Finally laying down on your bed and letting it’s cushion sinking into your tensed muscles, sleep soon takes over your body. 

You had been peacefully sleeping until you started having a nightmare, same nightmare as usual. Rogers dying and you leaving Tony alone in space, you squirmed in your sleep trying to wake up but can’t seem to open your eyes. You were sweating and panting while gripping the sheets of your bed.

Hearing noises coming from next door Stephen wakes up and rises his head to try and make out what he’s hearing. He then jumps out of his bed, ripping the cover from his body when he hears you crying and yelling in your room. Stopping in your doorway and seeing how distressed you were and yelling from fear. 

He runs towards your bed and tries to calm you down, but you couldn’t wake up, too scared from what you had been dreaming about. Your eyes were open but you were too far in your dream, Stephen then sits behind you and grabs your shoulder to bring you towards his chest.

“Y/N! it’s okay wake up,” Stephen screams your name to get you to wake up from your nightmare, 

Trying your hardest to follow his voice and come back to reality you finally wake up. Seeing your surroundings with a blurry vision and feeling a body behind you causes you to cry harder. You hugged and hid your face on the arm that was wrapped around you and bursted into tears. You had never been this scared from a dream before that caused you to scream yourself awake. 

“Shhh it’s okay... I got you,” You hear Stephens voice in your ear, 

He was slowly rocking you in his arms until you calmed down and got your breathing in order. Even when you stopped crying he still held you against him, not letting you go until you asked him to. Leaning on your headboard and bringing your body with him, he let you put all his weight on him and gently rubbed circles on your bare arms. Staying in his arms was something you could get used to, you would always deal with nightmares on your own and nobody was there to comfort you but being held against Stephens toned chest was enough for you to quickly forget about what just happened. 

An hour had passed and you were still against Stephen with his arms wrapped around you and you tightly holding on to him as if he would disappear from you. 

“Want to talk about it?,” He asks once he was sure you were back to normal,

Shaking your head no and gripping tighter on to him. Talking about it would only make you feel worse and then you’ll start having a panic attack. You had never told Stephen about having the same nightmare for over four months and now he had witnessed one of your episodes. 

“Okay.. will talk in the morning,” He says and kisses the back of your head,

You thought he was going to get up and leave to his own bed so you quickly grabbed his hand when he got up from behind you. He places his hand on top of yours and smiles at you before sitting beside you.

“Don’t worry I’m not going any where,” With that you lay down in the bed with your back facing him bringing his arm over your stomach, without hesitation he intertwines your fingers together and you raise both your hands to hug it against your chest,

You stare blankly at your covered window and feeling your eyes getting heavy the longer you try and stay awake. Seeing how you are fighting your sleep he hugs you tighter and brings you closer to his chest.

“Go to sleep, I’m right here,” He tells you softly making you tighten your hold on his hand before closing your eyes and falling asleep,

This time you feel more relaxed and light from your mind and nothing waking you up from your sleep. Sleeping peacefully with Stephen protectively holding you against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it!!  
> Next chapter is in process already ⚠️


	5. Just in your Head

Waking up from the sun that is peering through a small gap of the blinds you slowly open your eyes from its brightness. Fully opening your eyes you see your hands intertwined with an other hand, you followed the arm that was wrapped around your body to see Stephen peacefully sleeping behind you. Trying to process your brain from barely waking up you remember why he was in bed with you. 

Remembering that you woke up in the middle of the night screaming from fear, and screaming to wake up from the horrible feeling. Staring at your covered window and remembering everything you closed your eyes to shake away the thoughts. Slowly untangling your fingers from his and gently removing his arm from your body you sit up in your bed, steadily to not wake up the beautiful man sleeping beside you.

You rub at your eyes and look over your shoulder, seeing how Stephens breathing is calm and how his chest rises slowly. His hair slightly messy due to moving around. You smile at the man you are strongly falling for in awe, getting up from the bed you make your way towards the bathroom. After doing the morning routine you walk back out to your room seeing Stephen is still sound asleep. Leaving your room to head downstairs you grab the kettle and turn it on, letting it do it’s own thing as you go out to your private porch to look out the morning view. 

Birds, cars, planes, are heard around. You walk towards the rail, to not think about your horrible nightmare you let your head hang low and close your eyes. No one has ever seen you wake up from a nightmare, let alone screaming yourself awake. You honestly couldn’t remember what the dream was about, everything seemed like a blur every time you would try and think about it. Only thing you remember is Tony being left behind and Steve dying only a few feet away from you.

Raising your head at the sound of the slide door being open, you turn around to see Stephen joining you outside. His bed hair made him look more attractive causing your stomach to do flips. His hair was slicked to the back but still sticking out from the sides. 

“Morning,” Feeling your voice sore from the screaming you winced and clear your throat,

“Morning,” He reply’s back and sits on the armrest from a couch near him and crosses his arms, “how are you feeling?,”

Looking away from his gaze you look down and play with your fingers, “Like I lost my voice,” Trying your best to speak through a strained voice you swallow to try moisturizing your dry throat, 

“Well I believe a warm cup of tea can sooth it down,” You look up at him seeing him standing and offering you his hand to take you back inside,

You smile at him and accept his hand, walking through the sliding door and towards the kitchen he tells you to sit down while he’ll prepare your tea. After convincing him and assuring him that you can make your own breakfast he ignores you with a smile and makes you both some scrambled eggs with a side of orange juice.

Both of you eat in silence, you were lost in thought trying to figure out what exactly made you so afraid from that dream. Normally you wouldn’t have a problem remembering the nightmare, but for some odd reason you couldn’t remember this one. 

“You okay?,” Noticing how deep in thought you were Stephen wanted to break it so you can come back to him,

Looking up from your plate you stare into his eyes that were full of worry, you looked back down and started playing with your food. You sighed loudly and shake your head. Still not looking up you hear him slide his plate to the side.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be okay,” You say truly believing those words, you have for four months and nothing will ever change your mind,

“You will if you don’t let it control you,” Dropping your fork on the plate you pinch the bridge of your nose, you couldn’t blame him for not understanding on how you felt because you didn’t know what you felt most of the time,

“It’s not something I can just run away from,” You tell him getting up from the table to place your plate in the sink, 

You let the water run, watching how it’s removing any ketchup stains on your plate, making it disappear like how you disappear in your thoughts. You inhale and hold it inside before letting it out heavily, hanging your head low you didn’t notice Stephen getting up from the table and walking towards you.

He hated when you would get like this. He hated seeing you hurt, confused, frustrated, and more importantly... afraid. He didn’t like seeing you being of afraid of speaking out for help, speaking to him on how you felt. He couldn’t bare seeing you keeping everything inside and pretending you were okay, because deep down he knew you weren’t okay. He wanted to help, but how could he when you don’t talk to him or let him know the truth.

“Then don’t run, stay and talk. Let someone help you,” Grabbing your arm to make you face him, he continues when you look into his eyes, “.. Let me help you Y/n,” 

Looking up into his orbs with your wet ones, you were afraid he would get tired from all your nightmares every attack you would get and leave you alone. 

As much as you cared for Pepper you didn’t want to be like Tony who would some times be left alone when he would have one of his episodes. There would be times when he would show up at your house and stay with you after having a huge fight with her, or he’ll call you when he was having a panic attack since Pepper wasn’t available most of the time. 

“You’ll just get tired of me if I let you,” You tell him and let the tears slip out, lately you’ve been getting really irritated from crying too much but that’s all you can do at the moment. 

Placing his hands on both side of your face and forces you to look into his eyes. He looks at you hard, but with love and caring in his eyes. 

“I. Will. Always. Be there,” He says whipping away a tear, “as long as you let me,” you let out a shaky breath, letting his last words sink into your heart,

You bring your eyes down to his chest, but quickly look up when you see his face getting closer to yours. You saw him leaning in slowly you looked from his lips to his eyes until you finally felt soft lips against yours. It was a small gentle kiss, he backs away to look into your eyes for any rejection but doesn’t see any and dives back. 

You reacted this time, kissing him back. Finally cherishing those lips of his, finally feeling what they really feel like. You let your fingers run through his hair and pulling at it causing him to groan in your mouth. The kiss wasn’t desperate, it was gentle and slow. Full of love and only love. Feeling his hands on either side of your face as he gently licks his tongue at the bottom of your lip asking for permission, you accept and open your mouth feeling his tongue dancing with yours in a slow rhythm. 

Breaking apart to catch a breath he leans his forehead against yours before giving it a long kiss on it. Both of you slowly pant for air, you then chuckle softly causing him to smile down at you. 

“Til the end of time,” You say looking up at him with a smile,

He gives you a soft chuckle and leans in for one more peck before speaking, “Til the end of time,” staring at your eyes for a good second before diving back down to give you one last kiss,

*******  
After being interrupted by a whining Zeus you guys parted away with a laugh and cleaned up the kitchen. Putting away the egg carton in the fridge along with the orange juice and washing the dishes while Stephen helped dry and putting them in the cabinet where they belong.

Once the kitchen was clean and everything was put away, you fed Zeus before making your way towards the couch with Stephen behind you. You had put one of your childhood movies on, The Sandlot. As soon as it was starting you sat between Stephens legs with his chest behind your back and having an arm around your shoulder.

You then started to think about if you and Stephen were going to become a thing since you both finally revealed your feelings to each other. 

If you guys made it official would it impact on your work? Would it be difficult to lead them during a mission and not being able to concentrate to do it right since you would be worrying about him? What if you let your feelings take over and destroy the whole mission? Questions wouldn’t seem to stop popping up in your head, of course you would be over thinking about stupid things but you wanted to know what he thought.

“Hey Stephen?,” 

“Hmm?,” Feeling his chest vibrate against your back when he hums, you sinked more into him and he holds you tighter against him,

“You think it’ll work?,” You ask, rubbing the scarred lines on his hands,

“Are you asking if us being in a relationship would be a good idea?,” He says still looking forwards at the movie,

“Yes,” 

“I believe it if you do,” You stop rubbing his hand and think of his words, he actually believed that you two can work as long as you want it to work. 

You definitely wanted it to work, hell you’ve been dreaming for this moment since the first time you felt something for him. Being able to kiss him and hug him tightly whenever you can was something your heart fell for,

“You don’t think it’ll impact our jobs?,” Without looking up to his eyes you know he tilted his head to try and see your eyes,

Looking up from your head and staring straight ahead he thinks about what you said. He knew dating someone who worked with him always brings complications one way or another. It wasn’t going to be easy dating a coworker, technically his boss but he was willing to try it out with you as long as you wanted to try it with him.

“It might. It might bring complications, but as long as you want to try then we’ll deal with those complications together,” He tilts his head farther causing you to look up to meet his eyes,

You smile at him and get up to turn to him with pure awe in your eyes. You give him a long kiss before looking back at his beautiful blue orbs.

“I want to,” Smiling at your decision he brings your face back towards his placing a gentle and loving kiss on your lips, 

You lay back down on him again with your ear on his chest to hear his steady heart beat. He wraps his arms around you before bending down to place a kiss on top of your head and watched the rest of the movie in silence.

You soon fall asleep causing Stephen to smile at you and manages to take out his sling ring from his pocket to make a portal to his room and signals the cloak to step into your apartment. Obeying his masters wish it softly wraps you in a warm embrace, making you curl up more into its warmth and Stephens hold. After closing the portal and lowering the volume to the screen he lets his head fall back on the couch and lets sleep take over him as well. 

Hours had passed and both of you woke up on the couch. Getting up from his chest and peeling the cloak off of you, you stretch and move so he can get up. You didn’t want the moment to end but he had to head back to the Sanctum with Wong, he still had a job to do — protecting the universe from any danger that comes from other worlds is important. 

Grabbing his clothes from the other night along with his phone, keys, and watch he made a portal from your house to the main hall of the Sanctum. Before stepping he gives you a peck on your cheek and pets Zeus on his head. Once the portal disappears from your home you let out a loud sigh and turn around but give a yelp when you see Tony standing behind you. 

Smirking at your reaction he lets out a chuckle. You glare at him for scaring you, you will never get used to him showing up and talking. You were actually surprised he hasn’t shown up, that’s until you decided to think about him.

“About time,” Tony says and makes you frown not understanding what he’s meaning,

Seeing your confusion he decides to get to the point, “You and Strange, it’s good to know that you have someone there for you,” 

You scoff at him and roll your eyes, you walk towards the stairs to head up to take a shower but before you can touch the second step Tony stops you.

“Have you told him about me?,” Looking over your shoulder you stare into his honey brown eyes, 

“No. Not yet,”

“Are you?,” He asks with a stern look and raised eyebrow, 

Everything was slowly going well, why did this have to happen right now? Yes you did need to tell Stephen about seeing Tony, talking to him, drinking to end the nightmares, as much as you didn’t want to you had to tell him that you were also slowly getting addicted to doing drugs.

Lately you have been doing Methadone everyday just to make the pain in your chest go away. In the morning after you finish eating, at night along with a bottle of whiskey to make you fall asleep faster. Everyday you would seem to get worse, trying and finding different kinds of drugs to erase any pain or emotion inside of you. 

Dealers would try and sell you heroine, but you weren’t that stupid and crazy to take it. You know the effects, you had seen it from your uncle when you were growing up. You would take anything except heroine, and nothing was going to change because you feared needles. 

“I’m gonna give it time,” You say not looking at his eyes but looked down at your feet,

“Yeah cause that’s always a good idea,” Tony reply’s sarcastically, even if he’s dead he still is the same Tony Stark with his stubbornly ego,

“You don’t get to say that, not after what you did,” You stare at him with a hard stare, feeling tears building up. Who is he to say ‘not a good idea’ when he made the most stupidest one ever,

“My idea saved lives. It saved YOU,” He raises his voice and walks towards you with a angry expression, you walked towards him as well closing the distance between you two,

“Saved? You broke me, Tony,” You tell him with a shaky voice, at this moment you didn’t really care that your probably talking to yourself,

Tony stays quiet at your comment, but still looks at you with a grim face. 

“But you will never know that because you aren’t here to see it,” You say coldly and see how his nostrils flare up from breathing heavily,

“I’ve been here,”

“Physically,” You hiss at him and turn away to head up the stairs and not looking back to him, “Your just in my head!,” You say before slamming your door shut,

*******  
After coming out of the shower, dressing up and ignoring Tony trying to talk to you once again, you left your home. You couldn’t stand there and listen to him anymore, every time he would open his mouth would only make you feel guilty, guilty for not being able to save him and physically talk to him. You couldn’t see him without feeling like your watching him being left alone on the planet with no one else but himself.

You waited for your ride, which was Bruce since you had left your car at Peppers and made a mental note to call Happy if he can bring it whenever he had time.

Now here you were at the Avengers base down at the lab with Bruce. You helped him with some scientific stuff.. well more like he was helping you. He was teaching you all kinds of new things about science that made you more interested into the topic. He was mixing chemicals together that made it erupt in the glass bottle and start spilling all over the desk, he cursed under his breath which made you chuckle at him. 

You ended up making new armor for Rocket since he had asked you about a week ago if you could make his idea real. Now here you are making a small metal suit that would protect him from any bullets, and dangerous objects that fly towards him. You added a gun holster almost similar to the one he had on his back, only difference you made was to make it lighter for him when he flew around.

Being so concentrated on melting the armor into its size you drastically hear a loud bang coming from outside. You quickly raise your head towards the open windows and see Bruce turning and sighing loudly before going back to his work. Not really caring about the loud noise right outside.

“The hell?,” You say with a frown and put down the blowtorch along with your glasses on the table,

“It’s probably Groot, he’s been having a habit of throwing things from the roof,” Bruce reply’s to you, not bothering to look up from whatever scientific writing he’s marking on his journal,

Still frowning you get up from your work station and head up stairs, finally on the main hall you see Pepper on the couch with papers in front of her. She looked like she didn’t give a dam about the noise and buried herself in her own little world.

“Did you hear that?,” You tell her and look around to see if you find anything that caused the noise,

Without saying anything she points in front of her. You follow her finger and see Groot leaning on the rail looking down, you make your way to the rail and joining him on whatever he’s staring at. Only to see Tony’s dummy on the ground and moving it’s head as if it was in pain.

You turn to Groot with a raised eyebrow and see him shrug at you.

“I am Groot,” He says and leaves before saying something else under his breath,

You would never understand what he always try’s to say, but thankfully you have Rocket to translate for you. At the moment not so much, Rocket wasn’t there he was with Quill, Drax and Mantis back in space for some mission. So they left you a grumpy teenage Groot to deal with, as much as you love him he can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

“So what exactly happened?,” You ask and turn to face Pepper,

She looks up from her stack of papers and stretches before answering, “They were both playing and I think Groot thought he had cheated and threw him out the rail,” 

“Of course he would,” You say now understanding the reason why the metal machine was laying on the ground with its parts spread everywhere,

Going down the steps and getting a box to pick up the parts, including it’s neck that seems to be moving you place it in the box along with it’s other parts. The whole way to the lab it would whine, or make noises as if it was in extraordinary pain, all you did was chuckle at it and open the lab doors.

Walking towards your station and moving Rockets suit out of the way you place the box on top. 

“Wow, that’s the third time it happens,” Bruce says as he comes out from another door,

“Well that explains why he has all these scratches,” You gently let your fingers run along the silver lines on its black neck and see how rough it feels under your fingers,

Chuckling and putting his glasses back on his nose Bruce heads back to his own desk and starts making a hologram in front of him, and moves it with his fingers.

Getting started on the broken Dummy, you start by removing broken metal from its lower half and take away its wheels to remove its whole bottom. You then grab a chair to place it on top and grab a laptop to connect it to the dummy. As crazy as it sounds it would let you see if he is losing its power to be awake, almost like a beating heart beeping on the screen but only it’s in percentages. 

He was losing electricity so you grabbed a battery and some jumper cables to keep him alive, since he’s the last one of its kind. Losing him would feel like having nothing left from Tony, so you had to save the poor Dummy. Finally keeping him stable you returned to its lower body and start removing more damage parts, and melting the metal to easily peel it off.

Every once and a while Bruce would help you with certain things as bending a piece metal, help you break more damage parts to make things faster, or help you melt the metal. Then when he saw you could handle the rest he went back to his own work.

“Hey guys,” You look up when you hear a familiar voice and see it was from Peter who was walking towards you both with a huge smile,

“Hey kid,” Both you and Bruce say in sync,

“Whoa, what happen?,” Peter asked when he saw all kinds of parts spread on the desk and all over the floor,

“Groot and Dummy got into a heated discussion,” You say with a smile,

“Do I have to ask who won?,”

“Is it that obvious who won?,” You ask sarcastically with a frown which makes Peter smile and chuckle. You smile as well and get back to melting the metal,

Peter leaves you alone and makes his way towards Bruce when he sees the scientist working with chemicals. You then hear Peter excitedly tell Bruce he once made webbing in class by mixing Hexanediamine and Sebacoyl chloride (DON’T TRY WITOUT SUPERVISION) together making the whole bottle erupt and making a mess, then how he had to explain to his teacher that it was like that already when he found it.

You laugh at his little experience at school, not noticing how he had a huge proud grin on his face. 

“Hey Y/n I’ve been meaning to ask, do you think electrical webbing is possible?,” Peter says as he stands near Bruce’s desk,

“Of course, as long as the web is thick enough and strong enough to hold electricity then maybe it’s possible,” You tell him as you get up from your seat to pick up a part from the floor,

“Think you can help me try it out?,” Peter lets a huge grin spread on his face and opens his eyes wide in excitement,

You chuckle at him and shake your head, “Depends on why you have sudden interest on this,” 

Shrugging at you and plays with his hem of his shirt he reply’s, “Just like experimenting new things,” 

You smile at him softly and pat him on his head causing him to push your hand away for messing his hair, “Once you graduate,” You say and take your seat,

He groans but doesn’t argue with you since he knows you’ll win the argument. Getting back to work and finishing the lower bottom of Dummy’s body you start working on his metal neck. You removed his black paint to see the damages better and see if he had any dents that you had to fix. 

Luckily he didn’t and only need new wires to make him move and a couple new hooks so he can grab onto things. Couple hours had passed, Bruce was still doing god knows what with his Science things, Peter was sitting on a free table between you and Bruce doing his homework in silence. He would sometimes ask Bruce for help when he didn’t understand a question from his book or he’ll help you with Dummy.

Almost being finished with Dummy and only needing to tighten his neck you grabbed some wrench tools and got to work. As you were concentrating to tight the nail you heard arguing coming inside the lab, instead of looking up to see who it was you focused on putting the nail tight until Bruce spoke.

“Trouble incoming,” Looking up from your work you saw Rocket and Quill arguing,

Seriously can’t they have a day without arguing? You thought as you tried to finish your work before anything interrupts you. 

By “Anything” you mean Quill and Rocket.

“Stop your whining you big baby,” Rocket says and tosses his bag on the ground,

“You are so lucky you are part of my team other wise you would be a pile of raccoon hair,” Quill tells Rocket who was literally ignoring him by nodding his head up down,

“Umm.. what’s going on exactly?,” Bruce says taking off his glasses,

“This piece of skunk broke my iPod,” Quill says as he points to Rocket,

“Only because you broke my gun,” Rocket yells back standing on your table to be the same height as Quill,

Luckily you had finished when he jumped on the table causing some tools to fall off. You placed Dummy on the ground and saw how it was really happy to be back and quickly made its way out of the room. You then brought your attention back when Quill had pushed Rocket with his finger, before Rocket had the chance to launch at Quill you quickly removed him from the table and onto the chair beside you.

“Alright! knock it off you two, I’ll get you another Ipod and I’ll fix your dam gun,” You say to both Guardians with a serious stare causing them to shut up,

Your day just had to get worse and longer, you still weren’t done with Rockets suit and now you had to fix his gun, as well with taking Peter back to Mays. By the time everything was going to be finished it was probably going to be past midnight and you would be exhausted to drive back home.

Once Rocket had taken his broken weapon out that had smoke coming out of it, and its barrel hanging on the end both of you quickly got to work. Rocket had disconnected everything and handed you the body, while he kept the grenade launchers to fix. 

Taking it’s body apart to fix it from the inside in order to stop the smoke, then replacing the burned body with a new high tech body that you had been making for the Guardians. It allowed them to locate heat signatures from any enemy and instead of a military scope you added a high tech hologram with advanced zoom. Smiling at your invention you show it to Rocket who looked like he had fallen more in love with his gun, which was pretty weird since he seemed really closed to it. 

Giving him the body so he can connect back to the rest of the parts, you saw how he would stick his small little tongue out as he concentrated on putting the launchers back without trying to make them go off and setting the whole place on fire. Once in place and charging it back up with a touch of a button Rocket claps his paws together in amusement.

“Now let’s go test this bad boy out huh?,” You say getting up from your work station and heading outside to the shooting range,

Following you outside with his enormous gun on his small shoulder, he lets you get the fake targets ready before letting the launcher off and making them explode and burn from its power. He lets out a evil chuckle before blowing its smoke that comes out from its barrel.

Impressed with its new features and power you feel proud of your invention. Something you haven’t felt for four months which makes it seem strange, you have been dwelling on yourself and slowly hurting yourself that you had forgotten what it’s like to feel proud of yourself for things that you do and built for your teammates. 

“How bout we add some shock waves, that’ll teach them to not mess with us,” Says Rocket with a evil little laugh,

Chuckling at his idea you grab the gun away from him and start heading back inside for more adjustments, “You should. Unless you want to shock everyone around you, including yourself.” 

“Ehh with the right voltage I’ll be fine,” He says shrugging his little shoulders,

You roll your eyes at him and sit down at the table with the gun in front of you. To not make the launchers take forever to cool off before being able to use them again you added a booster on the battery. That took another couple hours since you had to wait for the booster to download on the computer, and then wait a while for the drive to complete on the gun. 

It was already going to be midnight and the gun still wasn’t ready. Peter was still there sleeping on the table, drooling on his backpack. Rocket was fighting his sleep until his eyelids won him and let his head fall back with his small feet propped on the small stool. 

Convincing Bruce if he could take Peter home, while you stayed back at the lab until the gun was ready and promised him that you won’t drive back home he left with a sleepy grumpy Peter on his arms. Once he left and you checked the computer to see if the gun was almost close to being complete so you can go home early, that of course didn’t happen seeing the percentage was barely at forty percent. Groaning quietly you let your head fall on your arms and closed your eyes, not noticing when sleep took over you as well.

———***———  
“Romanoff place your hand here and put pressure,” Stephens voice comes in but not being able to see him, only darkness invading your vision,

Then as if you are trying to make out your eyes, you see Stephen hovering above you along with Natasha, seeing how fear is written on her face along with Stephen being scared and face pale. You couldn’t describe much of what you were seeing since your vision would turn black every four seconds, but you could tell that you were laying down somewhere and feeling pain on the side of your stomach. 

“Y/n stay with me you hear!,” Stephen screams out loud,

Doing as what you were told you did your best to keep your eyes open but feeling them getting heavier every time you would keep them open no longer than a second. You then feel something being wrapped around your side hissing when a rush of pain and a burning sensation washes over your whole side. From what your starting to gather up you start to think that you had either been stabbed or shot, because you start feeling very tired along with craving to sleep for the rest of your life.

“Y/n keep your heart beating,” There it is again that beautiful deep voice of Stephen, no other voice can make you feel so calm and relaxed even if your probably dying at the moment,

Closing your eyes and letting sleep take over everything becomes distant, peaceful, and seeing a bright light with a dark figure in front. Getting closer to make out this unknown person and seeing how it holds out his dark hand for you to take, you hesitantly place your hand on top of his. Wanting to speak to this person and ask who he is but not being able to because you start to hear a familiar voice calling your name. 

Turning around at the sound of your name being called you see Stephen running towards you in fear. Running as if he is stopping you from doing something you should not be doing, or as if he wants to stop you from getting on the train that’s going somewhere you may never come back from.

“Stephen?,” 

“Wake up Y/n!,” You hear him yell, but hearing his voice so far from you until it starts getting louder and louder,

“Y/n come on wake up!,” Louder

“Wake Up!,” 

You start to cover your ears from the loudness and ringing noise that is irritating your hearing but still not being able to. 

“Wake Up!,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned! Next chapter is being written!!
> 
> Also I started school once again so I’ll probably take longer to update, but I’ll still try and update sonnet for y’all!


	6. Ground Rules

“Wake Up!,”

Jolting and flinching awake from your current nightmare taking in shallow breaths from fear, you try to slow down your breathing. You noticed that whatever ringing noise you were hearing in your sleep was the noise coming from the computer. Signaling that the drive is finally completed on to the weapon. 

Picking your head up from your arms you unplug the drive from the gun and place it on the table. You inhale deeply and let it out quietly when you saw Rocket sleeping and snoring beside you. Running both your hands in your hair as you close your eyes and inhale deep before letting it out softly once again. Getting up from the chair you head towards the stairs going up and straight to the kitchen to grab a drink.

A nice cold glass of milk would be best but unfortunately your eyes landed on the hazel liquid on top of the cabinet, you grabbed a cup and filled it up. Chugging its power you close your eyes as it burns your throat, loving the feeling when it spreads warmth on your chest. Filling it once more and placing it back on the cabinet you take a small sip to enjoy it for the rest of the night, knowing you won’t be able to go back to sleep.

“A little late for that don’t you think?,” Smiling to yourself when you hear his deep voice coming in the kitchen, you turn around to see him standing near the doorway with his arms crossed in front of him,

Giving a soft chuckle you place the cup down on the counter and lean on it with your back, “Needed something strong to keep me awake for a while,” 

“Coffee not strong enough for you?,” Furrowing his brows at you for drinking at almost three in the morning. He knew you had a nightmare again, but he never understood why alcohol would help heal them,

Looking up at him you saw how he was in regular clothes and not his blue tunic like he’ll usually wear after coming back from the Sanctum. He had a dark grey shirt with a black cardigan over, some dark navy jeans and black and white chucks. He looked casual this late at night making you wonder if he had gone out with Wong or probably he has been in casual clothes all day.

“What are you doing here?,” 

“Came by your place but saw it was empty, had a feeling you would be here,” He says walking towards you and stands in front of you as you automatically place your hands on his chest feeling his warmth and chest rising in a slow rhythm,

“Now..,” Placing both his hands on the counter trapping you between his arms he looks into yours eyes, “.. Why are you awake this late?,”

Getting lost in his eyes you couldn’t let words slip out, to amazed by his beautiful, breath taking eyes you felt speechless. With one stare with those blue, green orbs you would feel like every knowledge of speaking would disappear from you, he had a way with staring at people and would make them speechless.

“What do you think,” It was more of an answer than a question, you knew he knew why exactly you were awake this late at night. He had already witnessed one of your nightmares so he wouldn’t doubt it that quickly,

Humming at your response and looking at your eyes with pure adoration he removes one hand from the counter to place it on your cheek. Rubbing it in small circles with his thumb, then gently placing a strand of hair behind your ear —doing this while still staring in your eyes. You lean to his touch and close your eyes when you feel the exhaustion slowly rising in your veins. 

Chuckling softly when you realize he had placed a spell on you to make you fall asleep, knowing the symptoms all too well you smile at him and put your hand on his neck to bring him down towards your lips. Without hesitation he lets his lips attached to yours in a soft gentle manner, wrapping his other hand around your waist to bring you closer to his body. 

Feeling his lips moving in sync with yours, you run your fingers into his hair pulling gently at his hair and softly scratching his scalp. Then you feel him backing you more into the counter and his tongue poking your lips to part them away from each other so he can lavish your mouth.

You smile against his lips at his need and pull him by his hair to put some space between you both. Groaning at your rejection he stares at you with a stern look but drops it when he sees your smirk. He then bends down to try and get one last kiss but you place your hand on his lips when they’re only inches away from yours.

“As much as I want to continue... I can’t because this spell is kicking in really fast,” You tell him causing him to chuckle against your hand, he then grabs it removing it away before giving it quick peck,

“Okay.. lets go to bed then,” Intertwining your fingers together he leads you both to a portal he had made from the base to his room in the Sanctum,

After walking inside you headed straight to his bed and landed face first, letting your feet dangle off the bed. Chuckling at your reaction he takes off his cardigan, and hangs it on the desk before going over to remove your shoes. With a quick swift of his hand in the air your casual clothes turned into a black long sleeve and some baggy grey sweats, he wasn’t really sure what you slept in so he used some magic to dress you in his pajamas.

Once changed into his own pajamas he laid down next to you and lets you snuggle into him. Wrapping you both with his blanket and kissing you on your head he falls asleep as well before making another spell to make you sleep peacefully without any nightmares waking you up and ruining the rest of your night.

**********

For the first time in four months you can finally say you had a good nights sleep. Every morning you would wake up there would be this constant weight on your chest, and bags under your eyes from the little sleep you would get. You would add makeup to cover the tiredness from your face so no one could see how exhausted you really were.

It really had to take four months to remember how it feels to sleep peacefully with no nightmares, panic attacks, sweating, and screaming awake — even if it only happened one time you still felt less weight on your chest. The last time you had a good night sleep was probably when Tony was still alive and you had slept over his place after an all nighter in his garage when you two were building a new IronBot. 

You still remember how it felt waking up stress relief, no anxiety, and nothing to worry about but building Tony’s bots. You really missed those mornings, prayed that one day you can wake up without being scared from a nightmare or feeling like you can crack at any moment from everything you have been building up inside you. Unfortunately that day had finally found its way back to you.

Waking up when you sensed a cold spot on the bed with your fingers, only feeling the soft silk of the bed sheets. You opened an eye and saw it empty just your arm heavily laying on the side Stephen had slept in. Raising your head to look around the big room and trying to see if he was anywhere to be seen, he didn’t appear so you slowly got up from the king sized bed and into a sitting position. You rubbed your eye to get the sleep to go away and got up before stretching your arms out in front of you.

You had never been to Stephens room before. Yes, you had been in the Sanctum but you never actually been inside of Stephens room. It was a pretty wide room compared to yours, there was a huge window that looked over New York almost similar to the one you have in the living room, he has a small desk near the restroom that was littered with books stacked on top of each other. Couple framed music labels hanged on the wall, and a few awards from his past of being a neurosurgeon.

Admiring his room in awe, seeing how his room was pretty simple which described him very well. His room was neatly clean just like him, his room smelled like his mixed colognes which only wrote Stephen all around the room because every book, music labels screamed Stephen. 

Walking towards the window that over looked New York, you saw its grey skies starting to form together and knowing right away it was going to rain sooner or later. You placed the palm of your hand on the window to feel its cold glass against your warm skin, then softly smiling to yourself when you feel a pair of strong toned arms wrapping around your waist. 

“Afternoon,” Stephen says and kisses your cheek softly,

Furrowing your eyebrows at his comment and thinking to yourself if you had slept for the whole morning and starting to worry if you had wasted the whole day just by sleeping.

Seeing how your whole body tense up in an instant he chuckles against your neck and looks out the window before speaking, “Don’t worry, it’s barely twelve,” 

Sighing in relief and relaxing in his arms you speak for the first time since you woke up, “Good.. thought I slept through the whole day,”

“Would that be so bad?” 

“Stephen I just got promoted as the new commander for the Avengers, I can’t just have a lazy day,” You tell him leaning your head against his shoulder as you both admire the foggy ness of New York.

“I think you deserve it,” It’s all he says which makes you turn to look at him as best as you can,

He looks back at you with a smile on his lips, letting his eyes drop on your lips and looking back into your eyes before licking his own. Leaning in he gives you a small kiss, it was slow and small but then he started parting your lips with the tip of his tongue which you pulled away from his lips not wanting him to smell your morning breath. He chases your lips as you pull away not wanting the moment to end so soon. 

Before you can complain about your breath he shuts your mouth with his own making you gasp and taking his opportunity to let his tongue sink inside. It was an awkward position to kiss since your neck was sideways, as if he read your mind he turns your body so it can face him and backs you towards the window. You then place one hand at the back of his neck while the other was tangled in his grey T- shirt. Every kiss he would give you would be slow and tender, not desperate with need and want. Just slowly enjoying how his lips would perfectly fit with yours and let his tongue easily slip along yours.

This is all you’ve ever wanted, waking up to Stephen kissing you passionately in the mornings or in any other day. Seeing his smile on his face whenever he laughs at something he saw on tv or read something on social media was something you wouldn’t mind seeing for the rest of your life. 

You two break the kiss when you hear a knock on his door, you both turn your eyes and see it was the cloak levitating by the doorway awkwardly. Chuckling in embarrassment you hide your face in Stephens chest, feeling small heat rising on your cheeks.

“Sorry buddy,” Stephen tells the cloak with a smile tugging at his lips,

You wipe the side of your mouth with a finger and look towards the cloak and see how it quickly flees the room, leaving you and Stephen alone once again. You both let out a small laugh at being caught in the moment by a levitating cloak, you then tell Stephen you were going to change and brush your teeth. He had made a small portal and grabbed your tooth brush for you, smiling at him you take your tooth brush and head to his restroom.

After brushing your teeth and changing into last nights clothes you step out of the restroom and into Stephens room where he was sitting at his bed with his phone out in front of him. Even with the little light coming from the screen it still makes his piercing blue eyes standout along with his sharp cheekbones. Looking up from his phone when he hears you walking towards him, he locks it and sets it aside as he guides you on to his lap which you kindly accept and sit on.

Letting your fingers run through the grey wings of his hair you stare into his beautiful eyes, falling more in love with his eyes when you can see little green staining the blue. 

“What are you think about?,” He asks when your so deep in your thought and lost into his eyes,

“Your eyes. Their so... beautiful,” You say as you dig your fingers into his hair and massage his scalp,

“Their nothing compared to yours,” He tells you making you scoff at him with humor, really? Did he really think your eyes would beat his?

“Mines are just one simple color. Yours are like art, nothing compared to mine,”

“You may not see it but I love the way they shine when the sun hits them, love the way they glimmer into the bright light. I love it when they turn lighter than anything I see,” His beautiful words brought a smile on your face and leaned down to capture his lips tenderly.

Once you pulled away you rested your head against his and inhaled before letting it out slowly. You didn’t want the day to end so quickly but you had to get back to the lab to finish Rockets suit, along with having Peter Sunday. 

Every Sunday Peter would come over your house while May went out to work, usually you would spend time with him by walking at the mall, grabbing something to eat, grabbing ice cream, or just have a lazy Sunday watching movies and order some pizza.

Pulling away from his forehead you start to get off from his lap but was pulled back by him making you chuckle softly at him. You then feel how he wraps his arms around your waist tightly and rests his face on your chest.

“I have to go back,” You say placing your hand on top of his head gently massaging it,

“No,” Is all he says before holding you tighter against him, letting out a small laugh you shake your head before resting your chin on his head,

Both of you stayed in that position for a couple of minutes before you managed to untangle his arms that were wrapped around you. After successfully removing his arms you stood up and took his hand to make him stand up as well. Letting him get dressed in clean clothes you patiently sat on his bed and seeing him get dressed.

Of course you gave him his privacy when he had to change into newer underwear but he had told you stay in his room while he went to the restroom. Once he came back out shirtless you couldn’t help but stare at his well toned, art of a body. The way his back muscles flexed when he put on his shirt made all the saliva in your mouth go dry. 

Turning around he gives you a smirk when he’s sees you staring at him with your mouth half opened. Feeling your cheeks heating up you smile in embarrassment and look down. Getting up from his bed you make your way towards him once you saw him getting his sling ring ready on his fingers.

Putting his hand on your waist he gently pulls you against him and gives you a soft peck on the lips before speaking, “Have any plans for today?,”

“Have to finish Rocket’s suit before I get to hang out with Peter,” You tell him as you grab your red flannel from his chair,

“How bout you?,”

“Have some new spells to work on with Wong, as well with staying here at the Sanctum mean while he goes back to Kamar Taj to check on things,” Replying with a long sigh when he says his schedule out loud and realizing it’s going to be a long day,

“Sounds fun,” You say sarcastically with a smile,

“At least it’s funner than building a suit and seeing it burst into flames,” He says with humor,

“Better than getting a spell wrong and turning someone into a mythical creature,” You look at him with a smirk when he doesn’t have anything else to say,

Laughing at your smirk he makes a portal without looking. Through the portal you can see the couch and stairs than lead towards the lab. Before entering to the other side of the portal you turn to Stephen to give him one last kiss, but before you could you both get interrupted by a screaming Groot.

Frowning you look towards the portal and see him running while screaming something in his own language that no one else could understand. Looking at Stephen with a confused face you see how he too has the same expression, walking into the portal with Stephen behind you hear commotion coming from the lab.

Quickly making your way down the stairs while thinking to yourself, Is there a break in? Did one of Bruce’s inventions explode? Or did he explode from frustrations? Question after question kept invading your head the whole way you walked down the steps.

Stoping in front of the glass door you saw what exactly was happening. Rocket and Quill once again arguing only this time they were arguing while throwing shock grenades at each other as well with flying around the lab, while all of this was happening both Drax and Mantis were standing on the other side of the lab laughing hysterically at the two other Guardians fighting.

Putting your personal pin on the hologram, you open the door harshly causing it to slam against the glass window. With the loud slam and seeing you furious that made Mantis shut up instantly as well with a Drax doing his best to become serious. 

“This is for my iPod!,” You hear Quill yell before seeing him throw a flying object towards Rocket,

Easily dodging it Rocket then throws a empty bottle at Quill. Quickly thinking and letting your reflexes out you catch it with your hands before it got to hit Quill square on the face. Hearing a low gasp from Quill when he sees your hand inches away from his face, you look at him with a shock expression as well not expecting to grab it so fast.

You then turn from shock to furious once again, “Are you guys out of your mind?!,” You yell at them both and place the bottle on a nearby table,

“He started it!,” Both Quill and Rocket yell in sync,

“You guys are Guardians not children so stop acting like one!,” You say with anger,

It’s about time you had lashed out towards them whenever they would argue over stupid reasons. Normally you would ignore them and let them do what they do, but this time they had crossed the line when they started having a full on war in the lab.  
They could of seriously broke something with a dangerous chemical, or even caused a small spill of whatever Bruce was trying to do and set the whole place on fire.

Seeing you shaking from anger and your breathing getting quicker Stephen places his hand on your shoulder to calm you down. Averting your gaze from both Guardians you look down at your feet and try your best to even your breathing, while focusing on counting you hear Stephen speaking to the Guardians.

“How about you guys go upstairs,” Nodding at Stephens request they all leave the lab quietly. Even Quill and Rocket for once walk next to each other without bickering,

Once they had left the lab Stephen brought his eyes back to you but quickly looked away when a groan was heard from somewhere in the lab. Frowning at the noise you look up as well facing Stephen before walking towards the strange sound. Walking slowly to the sound when you hear it getting louder and hearing it as if it was in pain. Turning a corner you see a body on all fours in the floor, after figuring out it was Bruce you stopped in your tracks when you hear that familiar deep growl.

“Bruce?,” You say softly and quietly to not scare him and triggering him into an enormous green Hulk,

“Y/n,” Stephen whispers your name and grabs you by your shoulder to stop you from getting closer and getting hurt,

Looking over your shoulder and into his eyes you give him an assuring look as well with gently removing his hand. Turning your gaze back to Bruce you see him breathing heavily but starts to slow it down when you place your hand on his back. 

“I’m ok.. I’m ok,” Bruce says after calming down and getting his breathing back to normal,

Leaning against the wall and letting his head rest on it Bruce inhaled deeply before exhaling. He did that few times while playing with something in his pocket of his lab coat. You had sat down on a chair next to Stephen companying Bruce until he was back to normal. 

“What made you control it?,” You ask him after you had helped back to his feet,

Without replying he took out a ring from his pocket with a string tied around it. Looking at the ring and then back at Bruce not understanding how a random ring could help him keep control. Stephen however understood right away.

“Nat gave it to me before she left,” Bruce says with a smile when he stares at the small silver circle. Guess it wasn’t a random ring, you thought to yourself,

“She’s your anchor,” You say once you understood what the ring fully meant,

Blushing at your comment he looks down before nodding his head with a shy smile. You smile at his reddening cheeks and give him a side hug, then the three of you made your way upstairs to have a talk with the fighting couple that were quietly and patiently waiting on the couch.

**********  
“We’re gonna have some ground rules from now on,” You say to all the Guardians that were sitting quietly on the couch and letting you speak,

“Your idiotic ness almost triggered Bruce and you guys almost blew up the lab with your stupid grenades,” You say and continue, “From now on no more arguing, and fighting got it,”

Both Quill and Rocket sighed before nodding to the new rules. You were actually surprised that they had agreed to the orders you were giving them, you actually thought they were going to start bickering again or disagree with the new rules.

“What about pranks?,” Quill decides to say before you started to walk away,

Furrowing your eyebrows at his question in disbelief, you couldn’t believe he still had the nerve to ask you that. How old was he? Five? He was a grown man and he still wanted to be pranking people.

“What are you a child? No,” You tell him crossing your arms,

“Oh come on, you can’t turn this place into a boot camp either,” Quill states trying to cause you to change your mind,

“I should, then like that you guys can stand next to each other without arguing,” 

“Y/N come on, don’t be such a downer,” Quill says,

Looking from Quill to Rocket, Drax and Mantis they all were waiting for your approval. Then you turned around behind you to look at Bruce and Stephen, they both shrug not really caring what you decide. 

Turning around you see all the Guardians looking at you including Groot who had appeared out of nowhere with a bucket full of sweets. Quill was right, you couldn’t take away the little fun they were able to have whenever they weren’t on missions. Quill would sometimes workout to loosen his mind, listen to his music or prank some workers especially Rocket. Rocket would prank as well but whenever he would have some time off he would invent new gadgets for himself or take care of Groot. Drax and Mantis were always together, they wouldn’t really do much all they would do is sit on the roof to look out into the sky or just.. talk about weird random things.

Sighing and rubbing your eyes in frustration you let them know your decision, “Fine as long as Bruce is not involved and,” You say letting the ‘and’ hang before continuing, “you guys don’t blow up anything,”

Looking at each other they nod at your decision. With a shake of your head you dismiss them before telling them to go down the lab and clean whatever they had broke or damaged down there. Once they left you let out a sigh before turning around where Stephen and Bruce were sitting on the stool of the Island. You then saw how both of them had a smile on their faces, they smiled at you with pure proudness and happiness in their eyes.

“What?,” You ask feeling creeped out by them staring at you,

Smiling widely at you Bruce speaks out, “Your gonna be good at this,”

Scoffing at him with your eyebrows raised you let out a small chuckle before speaking, “Are you kidding? I am barely hanging on and I haven’t even went on a mission yet,” How can he really think you’ll be good at being the next leader when you aren’t even good with taking care of yourself,

You weren’t wrong though, you were barely hanging on by the tips of your fingers. You felt like you had a death grip on the edge of a cliff, not wanting to let go because you’ll fear you will land into something more dark than what you already feel inside. You haven’t been getting better due to all the drugs you’ve been doing, everything seems to be getting worse when you have them cravings for more.. feeling the need to have something inside so you won’t get those horrible nightmares.

Every time you wouldn’t have some you would feel cold, you hallucinate Tony lying dead right in front of you, start to feel itchy from all over your body, and start sweating as well. These were just small effects from not doing your morning and afternoon routine, thankfully it hasn’t been more than a day because those effects would probably get stronger bad more horrible.

“Remember what I said, you don’t have time be ready Y/n,” Stephen says getting up from the stool to walk towards you,

He grabs your hands with his and stares into your eyes, you stare back completely forgetting Bruce was still in the same room as you two and get lost into his eyes. For a split second you just wanted to give him a small kiss but thankfully you stopped yourself from doing anything.

“Yeah Y/N, there will be a time where you’ll be used to all of this,” Bruce says breaking your staring when he gets up from his stool and stands near you,

“I know.... I know I will,” You tell him with a slight smile, you knew both of them were right,

Sooner or later, definitely later you would feel more comfortable with making orders and going to missions to help and save the world. But for now you’ll just try and do your best to try and keep the team from falling apart.

After a few seconds Bruce went back down to the lab, leaving you and Stephen alone upstairs. He was still holding your hand when Bruce had left and brought it up to his lips to give your knuckles a sweet peck.

He then told you he had to leave so he can get started on the spells, opening the portal once again he gives you a long passionate kiss before leaving. Seeing as the portal disappears from your view you let the small happiness spread in your chest enjoying the warmth when it appears whenever you see Stephen or when he gives you loving kisses. 

Your feelings for him have been getting stronger each day and it scares you since you don’t know if he feels what you feel. Yeah both of you had expressed how you felt for each other with a few kisses but you guys never really said how you felt towards one another. The only thing you had believed about your feelings was you were falling in love more and more with Stephen and each day they always get stronger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter is gmbeing written stay tuned!


	7. Symptoms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning ⚠️: Drug mention!!
> 
> If you have any past or are dealing with something similar to anything I am writing please don’t consider reading. 
> 
> This chapter basically talks about drugs so for any youngsters under age of 18 please don’t try any of this, drugs are bad and will ruin your life!.

It had started to rain around an hour later when Stephen had left. With the foggy ness and coldness of New York you started to feel pretty tired and lazy so you decided to call off early with Rockets suit. It wasn’t finished yet but knew you still had a day to finish before he would have to go back to space for a mission. 

After waiting for happy to drop off your car at the base you left to your house to wait for Peter. Once you had fed Zeus, showered and changed into warmer clothes you had cranked up the heater to make it warm in the chilly weather of New York. You had smoked a small joint out on your balcony before Peter had got there, luckily it was small and didn’t cause your eyes to get small and red since he had gotten there earlier than you thought. Ever since you had woken up you felt very anxious so you had to smoke at least one to calm your nerves.

One bad side effect from the drug was you having the munchies. You literally ate like there was no tomorrow, you had finished the left over slices of pizza you had ordered, ate the rest of the popcorn and even managed to squeeze in some ice cream. Peter would just look at you with a surprise look, not understanding how you can fit all that food into your stomach. Thanking god for creating you as a women you simply told him ‘It’s a girl thing’ which he quickly avoided asking any more questions.

Now, you both were laying down on your wide couch watching some horror films with the sound of rain hitting on the roof and it’s grey skies darkening your living room. You fought the urge to get up so you can go and take another swig of it’s intoxicating drug, letting it run through your veins, head, body, making you feel relaxed and like nothing was wrong at the moment. But of course with Peter being very nosy you didn’t, knowing very well he’d gone up to look for you and not wanting to risk getting caught.

Feeling your body getting chills probably due to the fact that the drug is fading off, you bring the blanket more closer to yourself. Couple hours had passed since you last had a hit, and you were fighting every sinful thought to not get up so you can just get lost in your own world when the high finally reaches. Recently you have been smoking weed as well with cocaine, you had promised yourself you would only do it when you would feel really low. 

You had kept that promise but unfortunately everything that happened with Stephen you couldn’t bring yourself to keep doing it. You stopped right away when you had mentioned your feeling towards him, it was not easy but you have been managing to not do it. You threw away every bag you had down the toilet, seeing it’s white powder going down the drain. Now the only problem you seem to be having is constantly drinking and smoking weed. 

“You cold?,” Peter asks you when he sees how you are shivering under the blanket,

“A little... don’t think the heater is working well,” You say through chattering teeth,

“Really? I’m feeling kinda stuffed,” He looks at you with a concerned look in his eyes, worrying that you might be getting sick,

Removing the blanket from his legs he reaches over to place a hand inside your blanket to hold your hand, but quickly looks at you with a surprised look when he feels your hands icy cold.

“Your freezing,” He says taking your hand into his own and brings it out of the blanket to blow warm air into your hands,

“Is this one of the symptoms of a ‘girl thing’?,” Peter tells you while blowing warmth in your hands,

This was far from being a symptom of a period. This was a symptom from not having a drink, smoking nor snorting something in over a couple of hours. Drinking every day has been a routine for you, morning until the night you would always have a bottle of it’s hard brown liquid. Smoking was also something you would do everyday but tried not to since it would only make you relaxed and lazy. 

You had quit doing cocaine — well in the process of quitting. You would get horrible stomach pains, sweating like crazy and shiver whenever you wouldn’t have it. It hasn’t been easy doing it all alone, but you couldn’t tell anybody. You were afraid they were going to judge you and hate you for ruining your life with all the drugs you had been consuming. The only way for you not to shiver out in public you would always sneak in alcohol with you and take sips to ease your anxiousness.

“Would you like me to call Mr. Strange?,” Peter ask once again when he feels you shivering even more,

Shaking your head no and telling him you were probably just getting sick or a new symptom is appearing. Calling Stephen is the last thing you would want, you didn’t want him to see you the way you were. Shivering and sweating like crazy.

“Y/n I really think I should call him. I’ve never seen you shake like this before,” He says with a scared and worry tone,

“Pete really I’m okay, just a little cold besides... he’s busy right now I don’t want to bother him,” You manage to say with your teeth chattering,

“Fine,” Peter says after a while and scoots closer to you and wraps an arm around you,

You give him a small smile hopefully he’ll take it as a thank you. He then places his blanket over the both of you causing more warmth to slowly find its way towards your shivering body. After getting comfortable again he focuses back on the horror film of Friday the 13th, you closed your eyes and tried getting your body to warm up. 

You knew why you were shivering horribly,   
You needed it.   
You wanted.   
You craved it.   
Closing your eyes you can picture it’s beautiful white pale color neatly lined on the table, waiting for it to be made of use. You couldn’t stop thinking about it, it was eating you alive and there was nothing you could do about it. You couldn’t leave your home to go out and buy some without Peter following you. You also couldn’t since you had made a deal with yourself that you wouldn’t do it anymore because of Stephen.

Not being able to handle this shivering and sweating along with pain in your stomach you got up from the couch and Peters hold. He looked at you confused as why you randomly stood up from the couch.

“I think I’m getting sick... I don’t feel so good,” You say lying.. well the sick part was a lie, the ‘I don’t feel so good’ not so much. Everything was aching your head, stomach, you felt as if something was constantly punching you all over your body,

“Wanna go upstairs? I can make you some soup while you rest,” Peter tells you getting up from the couch to start leading you towards the stairs,

“That does sound good but-..,” You weren’t able to finish since you felt a wave of nausea go across your stomach causing you to groan and hold onto it,

Quickly grabbing you by your hand and placing another hand around your waist he helps you up the stairs. Carefully taking each step to not make you both go tumbling backwards. Finally reaching your door he opens it with a gentle kick and lays you down softly on the bed. The movement causes you to have more nausea, making your stomach do all kinds of turns.

It has barely been a day and you are becoming a mess without your drug. You wanted to tell Peter to just give you a bottle of booze so you can wash this pain and shivering down, but you couldn’t knowing he would ask questions before doing what he was told. 

Grabbing a small towel from your restroom and wetting it he places it on your burning head. He’s never seen you this sick before and starts to think about calling Stephen over but doesn’t since he wanted to keep his promise with you. He had to do something, he couldn’t just leave you alone with whatever you are catching. 

He didn’t feel comfortable with leaving you alone in your room so he stayed until you had fallen asleep, it took you a while due to the shivering, sweating, and high temperatures but eventually your eyes started to grow heavy and you quickly went into a deep sleep.

Looking up from his textbook he had brought upstairs with him and saw how you had gone to sleep he carefully peeled the damped towel from your head. You were burning so much that you made the rag warm, taking away its coolness. Coming back from the restroom with a new cool rag he places it once again on your hot forehead, he then noticed you were still shivering in your sleep but didn’t want to cover you up knowing it would only cause the fever to spike up.

Sighing in defeat he went downstairs where his phone was sitting on the table. Picking it up he taps on his contact list and scrolls until he finds Stephens name. He lets his thumb hover over the small green phone on his screen, he really didn’t want to bug him but you were in really bad shape and he didn’t know what to do anymore.

He decides to not call him but text him instead, better so he won’t get irritated by the ringing of a phone and disrupting him on whatever he’s doing.

Peter: Hey Mr. Strange?

Looking away from his book when he sees his phone light up Stephen reads it and sees its from Peter. Furrowing his brows together at the thought of Peter texting him at almost eleven at night he picks up his phone and types back.

Stephen: Yeah kid what’s up?

Peter: You think you can come by Y/n’s place?

Stephen: Why? Is everything alright?

After a couple seconds of staring at his phone waiting for Peter to reply, he puts his phone down and gets back to figuring out a spell. He starts to read where he left off but gets interrupted by his phone again, letting a annoyed sigh he grabs it and reads the message.

Peter: I don’t know what’s wrong with Y/n

Feeling worry rising inside, every annoyance completely washes away as he quickly makes a portal without hesitation and enters your home making Peter Yelp when he came from behind him.

“What happened? Where’s Y/n?,” Stephen says looking around your home to see if you are somewhere to be seen,

“I’m sorry Mr. Strange I was going to call you earlier but she told me not to tell you,” Peter tells him worried he made him mad for interrupting his work,

Fixing his eyes at the teenager and sees how he has his eyes low from exhaustion and hair messy sticking out from each side due to pulling at it so much. He places his hand on his shoulder to calm him down when he ranted about you.

“It’s okay kid.. where is she?,” Taking a few deep breaths he answers Stephens question, “Upstairs. sleeping,”

Nodding his head and giving him a smile he heads up the stairs with Peter following behind. Stopping at the doorway when he sees you laying on the bed covered in sweat as well with shivering he feels his heart breaking at the sight. He slowly walks in your room and goes around your bed to face you.

He then squats down near you and reaches a hand to remove sweaty hair away from your face before placing his whole palm on your forehead. Worry washes over him when he feels you warm and sweating. He hardens his stare and clenches his jaw at the sight of you, he didn’t understand how you can easily change from being well to violently shaking and sweating.

“When did this happen?,” Stephen tells Peter without breaking his gaze from you,

“I- I don’t know like an hour ago?,” Peter says still hanging by your doorway and continues, “Should we take her to the hospital?,”

“She’s warm,” Stephen says instead of answering Peter,

“Yeah it was worst but I grabbed a couple towels guess it helped,” Stephen then finally looks up at Peter catching the moment when he shrugged and looked down at his feet,

Smiling at him and getting up from beside you while holding the warm towel in his hands he walks towards Peter, “You did good kid,” Patting his shoulder he walks back to your restroom to re-wet the towel,

Once the towel is freshly wet he places it back on your head, carefully to not wake you up. Deep inside his head something was telling him to take you to the hospital for a check up, but another voice was saying not to worry about it, it was probably just a flu. He didn’t know who to follow, but then decided to let you stay in your bed until the morning. 

Noting to himself if you are still the same way you are right now he wouldn’t hesitate to portal you into a hospital bed. With or without your decision he would drop you into a bed.

Stephen had grabbed your rolling chair from your desk and sat beside you with his spell book on his lap. He had convinced Peter it was okay he had called him and he wasn’t mad at him. They were both quietly sitting in your room doing their own work, Stephen on your side and Peter on your desk doing his homework.

Eventually Peter had passed out on your desk, almost drooling onto his textbooks. Luckily Stephen had caught him and made a portal to his room, letting his cloak levitate Peter inside his room and gently laying him down on his bed. Closing the portal after calling May and telling her he had dropped off Peter back at their apartment he went back into your room. 

He lingered by your door and observed your shivering form. Even if he was a neurosurgeon he had seen these symptoms before, he didn’t want to believe them but he knew they were similar to the ones he was thinking about. While Peter was busy in his books Stephen had typed what he was seeing on his phone.

Taking out his phone from his pocket he unlocks it and opens his notes app to see what he had typed.  
Sweating.  
High Fever.  
Shivering.  
These symptoms were very obvious but yet not obvious. When you have a flu there are times where you have an extreme fever, or you shiver from cold and you sweat. But they are also similar to the ones where you are trying to detox a person from addiction. Personally he has never seen a person being detoxed but he had heard many stories from many different people, the way you are shivering, sweating and burning up match up.

As much as he didn’t want to believe what he was thinking he just had a feeling you were hiding something from him. Deep down he probably is starting to piece small things together and maybe knowing what exactly you are hiding. One thing he is worried about is, what if whatever he might know is true? Would you admit it to him or would you lie? Were you addicted since Tony’s death? What exactly have you consumed? 

Squeezing his eyes shut tightly as well with slightly shaking his head to get him from thinking too much, he puts his phone away and makes his way towards the empty side of your bed. He didn’t go under the covers but still sat against the headboard with his arms crossed on his chest. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he feels himself drifting away from his body. Opening his eyes to only see himself in a sitting position since he had entered his Astro body. He usually comes here to meditate whenever he over thinks things. Or just to be alone so he can have freedom to scream at the top of his lungs when he feels constant anxiety swirling around his chest. 

Just because he is the Master of the Mystic Arts doesn’t mean he has no battles to fight in his own mind. Ever since Dormammu, New York and Titan he hasn’t been the same. Having photogenic memory is a curse, he remembers when he died multiple times, remembers how those needles were slowly making their way into his skin. He also remembers when he did everything he can to bring you and Tony back home alive. The moment he first met you he knew he had to protect you, he never thought he would have that feeling again but once he saw your e/c eyes, he felt his whole heart beating instantly.

He had made a promise to Tony he would look after you and Peter, to make sure nothing bad would ever happened to them. He kept his promise and will keep his promise until he physically cannot anymore. But unfortunately somewhere in that promise a small piece has already been broken, it’s not noticeable for any human eye but it is noticeable for the spirit eye and Tony can see how Stephen is struggling to notice how broken you truly are inside.

After being in his astro form for a couple hours he went back into his own body. Opening his eyes and looking down where you were shivering but not as much as earlier he lets a small smile tug at his mouth. He didn’t want to accuse you of anything he was thinking at the moment without knowing the truth from you, but it was killing him from inside at the fact that he might know why exactly you are the way you are at the moment. He wanted to make the voice in head to shut up, physically make a spell so he won’t hear it’s harsh opinion. Put a wall between the voice and his head so he won’t believe it. 

It’s just one word that is making him want to throw up, hating that word to describe why your the way you are right now. As much as he can’t make it stop it keeps going and getting louder. Closing his eyes but opening them again harshly and getting up from the bed to go outside the balcony when he hears it again.

Addict.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8 is coming soon!! So stay tuned!!


	8. I Trust you, Do you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Stephen find out about Y/n’s secret? Or will she be quick to lie about it?

Waking up to the feeling of something warm and heavy against your head, you slowly open your eyes but regret it as soon as a bright light pierces your vision. Squinting at the brightness you place your hand to cover its light, but then a figure covers it for you. Feeling a soft warm hand grabbing yours, you blink several times before focusing your vision and see Stephen sitting in front of you with a smile on his lips.

Furrowing your brows in confusion you look around to see where you are only realizing you were still in your bedroom. 

“Hey, how are you feeling?,” Stephen says softly knowing you probably have a headache,

Closing your eyes and leaning more into your pillow you reply back, “My head hurts,” Smiling at his correct guess he gets up to close the curtains only leaving a small gap to make the room bright,

Taking a seat beside you and gently placing a piece of hair behind your ear, you smile at him through closed eyes. He was always so gentle and caring with you, it would always make you feel better whenever you would feel down. You felt much better now than how you felt the other night, tensing up at the event of last night you open your eyes when you realize Stephen is sitting near you. Remembering clearly it was only you and Peter at your house.

Through sleepy eyes you stare at him, seeing how the little light from the gap still makes his whole features stand out in the morning or afternoon glow. You give another small smile and place your hand on top of his own that was on the side of your cheek.

“What are you doing here?,” You tell him your voice sounding thick since you barely woke up,

“Peter called. He was worried about you,” You feel his thumb softly rubbing your cheek in small circles,

Well that explains why he is sitting next to me. You thought to yourself.

“I probably freaked him out,” You say thinking how Scared and worried Peter had gotten when you went to sleep,

He was all alone to deal with your symptoms that he didn’t even know you were having at the moment. You felt guilty for even letting him see you that way even if he thought you were getting sick. 

Looking into your eyes while still rubbing your cheek he lets out a small sigh through his nose, “You scared me,” With that you looked up at him seeing how he looked very tense and worried,

You didn’t like it on him, you never wanted him to be worried or scared but it looks like you failed at making it appear on him. 

Grabbing his scarred hand from your cheek you move it to your mouth and give it a long kiss on his knuckles, then down the side of his thumb and then in the inside of his palm. You gave him kisses to show him you were fine and sorry for making him worry, you still didn’t feel hundred percent but with the way he is looking at you.. automatically it felt like your body healed. Just the way his face is tensed up, his brows furrowed together was enough for you to forget your headache and the horrible feeling of cravings once again.

“Sorry,” You tell him softly when you finish giving him caring kisses on his hand,

Replying back with a smile on his lips and seeing him relax he leans down to connect his lips with your forehead, then lets his lips travel to the side of your temple, cheek and finally your lips. Gently and softly he kisses you to not hurt you or feel uncomfortable. He was pulling back when you made a soft whimper but you brought him back down by his neck reconnecting each other’s lips.

He had both hands on either side of your body holding all his weight with his hands while hovering above you. Feeling uncomfortable from the position he was in he decided to slowly crawl between your legs to fully be on top of you. Your hands instantly went to his beautiful locks behind his neck, it was something you loved to do. Feeling his hair between your fingers was something so satisfying and a turn on whenever he would groan at the feeling of you pulling at his hair.

Couple minutes into giving lazy, sweet kisses he sinks his tongue in your mouth when you left it slightly open. Groaning when his warm tongue collided with yours, you tighten your hold on his hair causing him to hum in your mouth and feeling it vibrate against your lips. You then let your free hand travel down his chest until it went under his shirt, feeling his toned body react at your touch. The kiss started to get heated when he fully laid on top of you, only the hold he had on your hips was stopping you from thrusting upwards towards his hips.

The farthest you had gotten with him was a make out session and nothing more. You wanted more than a make out session but knew it was to early to ask for more, in all honesty you were scared to ask. It has been a couple months since you last slept with someone, and then ever since Tony you just couldn’t bring yourself to have a one night stand. 

You were numb to everything which made every emotion disappear from you, everything you once felt had just vanished and not remembering what those feelings were like. But now that you are here under Stephen as he kisses you and cherishing your neck with love you slowly start to remember what lust feels like again.

You were never the desperate kind when it came to sex but right now that was thrown out the window, all you wanted was to feel Stephen against you feel him inside of you and you wanted it now. 

You were starting to grab the hem of his shirt so you can pull it off but he stops you by grabbing your wrist bringing it above your head and pins it against the bed. With your other free hand you went to grab his belt and managed to remove it from its buckle, but before you can fully undo it he stops you again.

“Stop trying to take my clothes off,” He says between kisses, feeling his hot breath against your lips as he speaks,

“Couple layers wouldn’t hurt,” You say against his lips,

“Not tonight,” He breaks the kiss while shaking his head. He lets his forehead rest against yours as he pants and tries to catch his breath from the heated session,

Slowly getting your breathing to normal you finally open your eyes to see him staring at you. For some reason it hit you when he rejected, feeling like you ruined the moment you move away from under his body to a sitting position, forcing him to do the same. 

Fixing his belt that you had loosen he looks up at you and noticed your mood changing. He saw how you looked slightly hurt which was the last thing he wanted but he felt you two were moving too fast for a couple who just got together a few days ago.

“Hey hey, believe me I want to... I just think we should wait a little longer before we jump to any of that,” He says while placing a hand on your cheek,

“Your right... sorry for escalating the mood,” Feeling ashamed and embarrassed you drop your eyes down to his chest not wanting to look into those eyes,

Placing his other hand on your face he forces you to look up, he stares into your eyes before speaking, “Never apologize for that... we can go as far as you’d like but for now.. heal,” he smiles at you and leans down to give you once last peck which you gladly accept,

“Okay?,”

“Okay,” You smile at him when he gives you another breath taking smile,

As soon as he gave you one last peck on your cheek he lets you get up from the bed so you can do your morning routine. Splashing cold water on your face, feeling it ease the headache away and taking deep breaths as you stare at your own reflection. You stared at yourself in the mirror for a good while, seeing how your once nice tan skin is now a pale color with dark bags under your eyes. 

This wasn’t you and you knew it. This was someone else who had taken over your body, someone who is broken and afraid to seek for help so they deal with it alone by doing drugs. This person who is standing in front of the mirror is clearly brainwashed by the drugs, thinking the alcohol and the drugs is her key to feeling better, feeling whole again. 

You hated this person, you hated the fact that no matter what you do to escape from this horrible loophole of addiction you were never going to find your way back home.  
Back to your old self.   
Back to being happy and not riding with constant guilt.   
To wake up from a sleep without screaming, sweating, or having panic attacks because of that one nightmare. No matter how hard you try to believe that one day you’ll wake up and everything will all be a dream, Tony would still be alive, Steve would be here trying to figure out how exactly to use a phone, Vision and Wanda would be here as well. Everyone who had lost their lives on that one planet to win and protect the universe would still be here, but of course... everyday you wake up with the same nightmare.

Sighing loudly you turn of the water and head back out to your room to change into cleaner clothes since you sweated through the ones you have on. Grabbing a grey long sleeve with some black leggings, you throw them on before heading downstairs to the kitchen where Stephen was at. On the island table there was a cup filled with warm tea, next to it was a piece of bread covered in peanut butter. Smiling at the small breakfast on the table you go around and hug him from the back, letting your small arms wrap around his waist as you lean your cheek on his upper back.

Breathing in deeply you get to catch his scent, mens conditioner along with a small hint of his cologne mix together and making its way towards your nostrils. Humming at it you softly scratch his stomach causing him to give out a small chuckle, he then turns around in your hold to give you a small kiss. It was smooth and gentle, he kisses your nose before turning back around to get his own bread from burning up in the toaster.

Both of you sat on the island and ate your breads while having a small conversation. Both of you sat there then walked to the couch once you finished with your tea, checking the time you saw it was almost going to be twelve in the afternoon. It was still early which was a relief to you, you still had to finish Rockets suit but everything that is happening at the moment your just going to tell Rocket to give you more time with it.

After watching a couple episodes from a random show on Netflix, Stephen had told you he had to go back to the Sanctum before Wong got back and found out he left it without any supervision. Without hesitation you slapped him on the arm and pushed him off the couch for not telling you, he only laughed at your small pushes but still got up from the couch. Putting the show on pause you get up as well to take the used cups to the sink, Stephen was waiting for you to come back. 

He wanted to talk about what had happened but knew you would try to avoid the topic. He then started thinking about that one little voice and the one word he is trying his hardest not to believe. There was so many thoughts running in his head, so many questions he wanted to answer but couldn’t since he didn’t know the correct answer for them.

It would only make him stressed and frustrated because he didn’t know what to believe, he didn’t know if he should believe you when you would say your fine. Or if he should believe his instincts about you. He was brought back from his thoughts when you walked back into the living room, holding a bowl of popcorn on one hand and a water on the other. 

He hesitates to ask what he wants to ask you but eventually does it, “Hey do you trust me?,” You look up at him when you placed the bowl on the table the question had taken you by surprise,

“Of course,” You say without hesitation, you stared at him with furrowed brows not knowing why he would ask such a question,

“You would tell me everything right?,” He looked at you with a stern look not blinking until you gave him an answer,

You had a feeling what he was trying to ask, your heart was starting to beat faster at the thought of him knowing your dirty secret that you have been keeping to yourself for the past whole month.

“Depends. What are you trying to get at?,” You ask even if you had a clue in what exactly he was trying to say,

“Like if you did something. Something you shouldn’t have done.. would you lie about it?,” By now you had sat back down on the couch and stared at him calmly even if you were on the edge of freaking out,

“Like I said.. depends. If it means keeping you safe or anybody else safe then.. yeah I would lie,”

“What if it’s better for you to say the truth then to risk everything for that lie?,”

“Why are you asking this?,” You wanted him to say it already if he knew the truth,

He stood quiet, he didn’t know if he should say what he was thinking. Fearing of losing you for accusing you of something that you probably didn’t even do or even thought of doing.

“Just wanted to know if you trust me,” He says looking down at his feet, getting up from the couch you go to stand in front of him and grab one of his hands before speaking, “You know I do,”

He looks up at you from under his lashes and speaks again, “Then you know you can come and talk to me about anything right?,” instead of answering you nodded your head,

You bring your hand to run your fingers through his grey wing and cup his cheek as you look into his beautiful eyes. You were lost of words, he was already having suspicions about you and it was something you hoped it would never happened. Never did you want him to find out about your little addiction, you knew if he found out everything would quickly go to shit. Not only would you lose your position at the Avengers base but you would also lose your relationship with Stephen along with your trusts with him. 

If you lost your friends and Stephen you don’t know how you would survive without them. All you knew was you would definitely hit rock bottom... well you kind of already did but not fully since you still had the people that cared for you. It was still a scary thought not having the people you love and care for around, making everything ten times more hard.

“Do you trust me?,” You ask him with the same question he asked you,

He hesitates once more, he didn’t want to say it because of how you would react. Giving him a light pat with your finger against his cheek he tells you how he feels, “I- I want to,”

“I know your not fine. You haven’t been for quite some time, I want to help you but you make it so difficult for me to-... to help you,” The whole time he spoke you heard how his voice would crack but still had a serious expression,

He was always good at hiding his expressions. Whenever he would deal with something mentally you could never figure out what exactly was it that was bugging him since he hid it very well.

“Y/n, you have to let me in. Please.. let me in,” He tells you with a hard stare as he places his own hands on either side of your face,

You didn’t answer him, you couldn’t answer him because you didn’t know how. He would always tell you to let him in, let him help you but you never understood how to accept it since you dealt with it alone. Each high, each drunken night, each anxiety, nightmares, fear you had was always dealt by yourself. No one else was there to guide you away, guide you to another door and help heal those wounds that have been broken for four months. 

Just like how you imagined everything going to crap once he found out a secret from you, everything you felt around your chest was only going to swell up. Making it hard for you to breathe, think, and only being able to hear their voices in your head telling you it was your fault that they were dead.

Seeing how you weren’t going to to answer he clenches his jaw and drops his eyes from yours. He lets a small sigh through his nose and turns around to make a portal back to the Sanctum.

“Steph don’t go,” You plead to him as you grab his hand stopping him from walking through,

“I have to go... I’ll call you later,” With that he untangles his hand with yours and walks into the portal without looking back towards you,

The orange sparks close behind him leaving you staring at your door with tears threatening to spill from your eyes. It took everything in your power to not leave your home to go to the alley and buy it once more. Anger was rising in your chest, if only you had the guts to tell him everything you wouldn’t be standing in the same spot .

Deep down inside you knew it was not a good idea to be left alone. So what was the only rational option for you instead of being stupid and buy your drug again? You decided to run. You ran from your apartment all the way to the park which was probably four miles away from your home. By the time you had gotten there you were sweating like you’ve never sweated before.

Anger, nausea, pain was mixing together making it hard for you to keep running. But being the stubborn one you kept going, you kept running until you didn’t feel the cravings, you ran to take away the pain and the anger. You ran until you couldn’t breathe and your ribs started to cramp up. As you were turning the corner you felt a horrible wave of nausea coming up your throat, you stopped only to relieve your stomach on to the grass beside you. Maybe running with only a bread and tea in your stomach wasn’t such a good idea.

Checking your phone to see the time you saw it was almost going to be two in the afternoon. You had been running for a good couple of hours while being lost in your thoughts that you didn’t know you had lost track of time. Luckily no one else had ran past you while you were busy throwing up your little breakfast, once there was nothing else to throw up you sat on the clean side of the grass. Leaning your back against the tree trunk and breathing in slowly to relax your heart rate.

You sat there for quite a while. Just sitting there calming your breathing, listening to birds, cars honking, police sirens, and the small water fountain that was in the middle of the lake. Normally people would need silence to feel peaceful and calm, but growing up in New York with its active noise that was your way of being calm and peaceful. After staying under the shade you got up, feeling your legs starting to get sore from the long run you had.

Walking back to your home in a slow pace to avoid getting there early, fearing you are going to do something you will regret. After what seemed like hours you finally arrive at your front steps, deciding to go the through the main doors and into the elevator instead of your private elevator. As you open the door and look up you see a tall figure dressed in black staring out of your window. Letting your instincts kick in you quickly pull out your gun that is hidden behind a bookcase and point it towards the unknown man.

“Who are you?!,” You say in harsh tone and look around to see if any other intruder will pop out,

“Did I ever tell you how long I’ve been waiting for this moment?,” Recognizing the voice all to well you furrow brows in confusion,

You were never told he had cut his vacation short and came back to New York. You thought he was still living the low life from all the drama and dangerous missions.   
As the tall figure turns around you aren’t able to see him fully due to the bright light in the room, instead of walking for a better view he stays still in his spot waiting for any greeting. 

“Nick?,” You say out loud as you slowly start to lower your gun,

Well this is a unexpected visit, usually if he would visit someone he would have guards outside your door so you can be made aware. Unfortunately he broke into your apartment and decided to wait for you until you came back home, which was another sign for ‘We need to talk,’ and right about now by the way he is serious you can tell it’s going to be another long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter is being written already!! Stay tuned!⚠️⚠️
> 
> ⚠️Also I am currently writing a OneShot for IronStrange, should I post it once it’s done or should I post it along other OneShot fic’s? ⚠️
> 
> Let me know! 


	9. First Target

"Jesus Chri-.. I could of shot you!," You yell at Fury as you put the gun back on safety mode and place it back in its hiding place,

Being the ass that he is Nick only gives a small chuckle and makes his way towards you. Glancing over to your kitchen he spots your stash of bottles lined on it's counter. Some were empty while some were in the process of being finished and some were brand new, waiting for it to be made of use on your shelf.

"Lot of liquor for a lady," Nick says once he looks back at you,

Looking over to your kitchen you scoff before replying, "What can I say, I like to collect,"

Closing the door behind you and walking towards your kitchen to grab a water bottle, you chug it down like you had never drank before. You could of felt Fury's eyes on you when you were drinking your water, looking at him from the corner of your eye you see him fiddling with a framed photo with his back facing you.

Without turning he speaks once again, "Your probably wondering why I'm here,"

Yep.

"I'm actually wondering how you broke into my apartment," You didn't know why but you felt like Stephen must have contacted him and letting him know everything that has been going on with you,

"It wasn't as hard as you think," He says finally turning around to face you,

"Thought you were in the Bahamas?," You ask him,

"We all have to come back to reality eventually," Rolling your eyes at his comment you make your way towards the living room where he was standing.  

Plopping yourself on the couch with a loud sigh when you feel the cushion forming on your back nicely. Fury had leaned against the wall, staring at you with his hard eye. It was a stare that no one was comfortable with, mainly because he would stare at you with one eye and look at you as if he wants to steal your eye so you can feel his pain. 

To not let him know you are feeling very uncomfortable under his stare you cleared your throat along with rolling your eyes before speaking to him.

"What do you want Nick?," Without hesitation he pulls out a yellow folder from his coat and tosses it onto the coffee table in front of you,

Looking from the folder to him you reach out to open it up. Revealing pictures of a very muscular man with weird tattoos all over his face, making him look more sinister. There wasn't much information on the photo, just a couple annotations but not enough for you to know about this guy.

"Who's this?," You ask as you observe the pictures, 

"His name is Rico Orlov. He has been stealing nuclear energy and making them into dangerous weapons. From what I heard he already has a warehouse stack with all kinds of firearms," Fury explains as you keep looking though the folder and being amazed from what this man has been building,

From what the annotations are saying this guy has been stealing nuclear arms and turning them into weapons. Maybe also in the process of building the first nuclear tank, seeing this guy from the pictures gives you chills and feeling it going down your spine. This is actually the first time you've felt pretty scared from someone, normally you wouldn't feel anything mainly fear when it came to people but for some odd reason this guy gave you the creeps.

After scanning the photos you flipped the pictures and saw papers with all kinds of highlighted words making the paper stand out. You were confused why there was so many lines highlighted, usually what Shield would do they would have everything in one hard drive or in one simple paper. Difference with this folder was it was a stack of paper stapled together and having almost everything highlighted.

"What's with the highlights?," You ask as you scan each paper,

Without turning around from the window Fury replies, "Green is what we know so far,"

Flipping each page for any other color but in each page you would turn to it will only have that one color, "There's mostly red here," You say,

"That's for you to figure out," Quickly you lifted your head as soon as he said that, was he crazy? How on earth will you figure all this out? Fury may be a use of help but there are times where he can be a total ass and let all the work to someone else,

"With this little information that I have? You've gotta be shitting me Nick!,"

Literally the one small information you had that was highlighted green was, Rico's name, how many deals he has made, and how many people he has killed. It was not much.... like at all. The rest was highlighted in red which was almost the whole stack of paper in front of you.

"A leader figures out the rest. And you're a leader." Fury says as he finally turns to look at you,

"Umm yeah, I don't know if you hadn't noticed but.. I'm still new to..," You tell him as you wave the stack of papers in the air, "... all of this," you finish by looking at him in disbelief,

"Well get use to it because your almost needed," Fury says in a stern tone,

"When is that exactly?," You snark back with attitude,

"I'll tell Hill's to let you in with the details," Fury says as he starts walking away,

You let out a small scoff when you saw him walking towards your private elevator. So that's how he got in, you thought to yourself. 

You couldn't believe Fury wanted you to figure out the rest of this unknown man. It was impossible for you to get information when all you know is his name, from what you are starting to know is this is going to be harder than you thought. Most of the page had blacked words while everything else that wasn't was highlighted in red, feeling stress rising in your chest you scratch your head and try to calm your breathing.

"You know... they picked you for a reason," Fury says as he walks into the elevator,

"Oh yeah? And what's that?," 

"You'll see soon. And I'll see you in a week..Captain," Fury says with a smirk when the elevator closes leaving you with anxiety and stress trying to make its way towards you,

Captain. Captain? Just hearing that word makes you want to throw up.  You always feel like your about to throw up every time you hear that word, one because that was Steves position and two... you can not stand the thought of you being named 'Captain' it just doesn't feel right.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling heavily you turn around and slam the folder on the coffee table. You walk towards the kitchen to get something stronger than just simple water, if Fury wants you to figure out the rest of this impossible man than you are gonna have to drink something heavier than water. Still having the feeling of anxiousness and coldness you decided to swallow some Xanax. It eases you down, doesn't make you feel shaky or swirling with anxiety, everything feels calmer.

It was barely Monday morning and you were feeling very active, probably due to all the Red Bull's you had drank along with those five hour energy bottles. You lost count after the fifth bottle and decided to slow down on the energy drinks since you felt your heart beating at a not normal pace. Only taking a couple minutes of resting and eating you went back to your work station. Walls, windows, tables, even the floor was covered in variety of information. 

The last time your home was like this was when you were helping Tony with a new suit, you still remember the time he came banging on your door and out of breath saying he had cracked the code to make the suit successful. Both of you were exhausted and relieved the suit was finally finished, it literally took you guys three months just to finish it. But the wait was worth it since the suit was build and meant to protect Peter from any danger.

********  
A week had past by a flash and now you were getting your new information ready to present it to the rest of the Avengers. The whole week was like hell for you since you hardly got any sleep, having Tony pop out of nowhere and annoying you, and not being able to speak with Stephen since you were chained to your work. You hated how things were left between you two once again, you wanted this relationship to work but any little stupid thing you do makes things worse.

Every once and a while when you would take a break from the stressing stack of papers you would send a message to him, but would only receive a small simple answer. You knew he knew something.. and that was making you more stressful, letting Stephen know about your addiction was something you were never going to say. Fearing he would leave you and cut you out of his life, just thinking about him not being apart of your life makes your heart clench and stomach twist in painful directions.

Shaking your head and collecting your hard drive once it was completed with all the new information, you tried to fix your home that was now a mess. Crumbled papers thrown everywhere on the floor, cans of soda, beer, energy drinks were scattered on the ground and tables. Dirty plates were stacked on each other in the sink, basically your home was not the same like it usually is.

After showering and putting fresh clothes on you went back downstairs and started to clean. Once you managed to have it almost the way it was you grabbed your keys and dark navy jean jacket and headed towards the door, but once you opened the door you saw two men in black suits standing by your door. 

"Ms. Y/L/N were here to escort you to the base," You stare at them with a confused expression but quickly realized Fury had sent personal guards for you,

Rolling your eyes and closing the door you walk down the hall before locking it. One guard was behind you while the other one was in front of you, both of them being close and protecting you. Once out of the building you saw one familiar face, Joe or Joey as you call him. He was your personal assistant, he had the same job like Happy. Tony had hired him for you ever since you turned eighteen, Happy would take care of you most of the time but would be difficult for him since he had another job to protect Tony, along running errands for him. So Tony decided to get you your own assistant.

"Hey Joey," You tell him and hug him with a smile,

"Y/n," He says with a smile, he calls you by your first name since you don't like being addressed with your last name,

Everywhere you go or meet, you are always address by your first name. Being called by your last name is something you never liked, mainly because you weren't a big fan of being called like your father. Your father was a Captain back in his war years and once he retired he had met Tony at a small event, they had became good friends and when your father passed away Tony gave him his word to protect you and raise you well.

You were never really close with your father since he would always be away at war, you basically didn't have a childhood with him. Maybe you did, but it was locked away in a box with a chained around it and thrown deep in the back of your head. 

After being in the car for a good couple of hours you finally arrive at the Avenger base. Stepping out of the car and grabbing your folder from the seat, you follow Joey as he escorts you to the room where everyone is waiting. As you walk towards the door you can see through the windows who exactly is there. Bruce, Peter, Fury, Hills, The Guardians, Ross, T'Challa, Shuri, Sam, and last but not least... Stephen.

You felt nervous seeing him after not speaking to him properly after a whole week. Opening the glass door you walk in and see every pair of eyes including Stephens land on you. Smiling at them shyly and wave as you make your way to the front of the room, Bruce helps you set up the projector and stands beside you as you start your presentation.

What you had discovered was Rico was just a arms dealer and the head of the weapons. You also found out he was from Russia and was the most wanted men in Russia, he was arrested six times was sentence to death but would escape each time until he was arrested one last time and was sent to a maximum security and did his years before getting out for good behavior. 

"So if he's not the leader than who is?," Sam says from where he was sitting,

"This guy," You say doing a swiping motion in the air and making the screen switch to a medium size man,

"His name is Luka Orlov. He's the youngest brother of Rico," You tell them as they observe the picture in the screen and continue, ".. they are well known as the 'Orlov Brothers' in Russia and Italy for their family history of drug dealing back in the 90s. Only difference with them this year is they are arms dealing." 

You look around and scan each face. Seeing how each face is either looking up at the screen, taking some notes or observing the stolen weapons on the folder you had placed in the center of the table. The only face not paying attention to the screen or the folder was Stephen, he was only staring at you in pure admiration. He was standing behind a chair with his arms crossed and staring at you as he listens the way he always would.

You locked eyes with him as Fury was saying something to the rest of the team, not really caring what he was saying since you were having a staring contest with Stephen. You saw how Stephen did a small move with his finger only for you to see, it was the sign of 'Can we talk.' Smiling secretly at him you nod your head which makes him smile back as well and relaxing his shoulders.

"Do you know where he keeps the weapons?," T'Challa speaks breaking your gaze from Stephen,

"No. But I found out where he mainly makes his deals.. As well with where he lays low..," You tell them as you change the screen to a fancy Mansion and continue, ".. Each year he goes to this Ball or charity of some kind in Italy. I found out he was invited again this year, a month from now the event will be on," 

"Great but.. don't you have to be well known and the richest of the richest to be invited?," Bruce asks,

Looking down at your hands you start to fiddle with them. You never told anyone you came from a very wealthy family let alone a family who made deals themselves.

"My uh.. my father was well known. I guess the lady who is hosting the event remembered me and didn't hesitate to send me one," You tell them as you take out a Fancy gold envelope from your Jean jacket and place it on the table,

"Is that real gold?," Rocket quickly says as he jumps on the table to grab the envelope, before he can reach it Shuri grabs it and holds it with care while she glares at Rocket for him trying to ruin the beautiful envelop,

You give a small chuckle at her, seeing how she is hugging it towards her chest. You will admit it, it was a very fancy and beautiful invitation you had ever seen and would be a shame if it was destroyed.

"So what's the plan... Captain," Fury says making the whole room stiff and awkward as every pair of eyes land on you from the nickname,

Even Stephen seems to be feeling your mood changing since he unfolds his arms and clenches his jaw before giving a comforting smile. You inhale deeply and clear your throat to try and act like the name didn't matter for you.

"I just want a simple walk in, grab target and-," 

"And then we kill them all," Rocket says interrupting you with a evil smile,

"No, there's going to be many civilians I don't want to cause a fight when lives will be at stake," You harshly say out loud but directly saying it to Rocket,

"We're just going to walk in, grab the target and get out. Clear?," Everyone nods their head in silence except for Bruce who was quiet,

"This sounds bad," He finally says,

You look at him and before you can ask why Fury beats you to the punch.

"Which part?,"

"Which?- all of it. You make it sound so easy, I thought you said he had heavy armed guys around at all times," Bruce was now pacing back and forth in his spot while looking at you,

"Which is why she won't be going alone," Fury says stepping beside you, 

Nodding your head at him and to everyone else you explain to him, "This invitation allows me to bring anyone I want. So on the floor it will be me, Quill, Shuri and Stephen," You look at Shuri and T'Challa who were standing together and continue, ".. only if your comfortable with that," Without hesitation Shuri nods her head and smiles widely at you,

"What about me?," Bruce asks as he stops pacing,

"I can't risk you. You'll stay at a nearby base with Rocket and the rest of the team," You tell him,

Bruce just stares at you in disbelief but quickly drops his mood when he understands that you just want to protect him from turning into an enormous green guy. He also understands him going on the floor with you means he would never be able to stick to the plan without being over protective and taking his eyes off of you.

"I also want Ross's men outside the perimeter as well with Sam in the air to give us any odd movement. I want eyes and ears wherever," You say to Fury turning to him,

"I can arrange that," Ross reply's and leaves the room to get everything ready even if he still has a whole month before the mission is due,

"What is my job?," Peter asks making you look at him in shock, you had honestly forgot he was part of the team. There was no way in hell he was going to be part of this mission,

"Nothing. Your staying here," You tell him and start to clean the table when everyone was informed of their task, only ones in the room at the moment was you, Bruce, Fury and Hills, and Stephen,

"What?! Why?," Peter asks raising his voice and stands up from his chair,

"Imagine if your aunt finds out you went to Italy with me. She'll kill me!," You tell him with a stern look and continue when he stays quiet, "..So no, you are staying here and that's end of discussion,"

Instead of arguing back and complaining more he storms out of the room. You sigh and continue cleaning the table with Stephen and Bruce helping you. Bruce helped by putting all the chairs back in order and removing the projector, Stephen helped you with picking up the rest of the papers and waited for you.

Once everything was done and said you walked out the room with Stephen. Feeling his fingers brushing the side of your hand that was holding the folder you smile when he replaces his hand with the folder and intertwining your fingers together. You knew he missed you, as well with you missing him. You missed his smile, his hugs, his breath taking eyes, and his scent, everything about him you missed. 

Looking at his surroundings and finding no one else to see the both of you he gently cups your face and kisses you on your lips. It's was a quick peck but full of care and love, he pulls his head back just enough to stare into your E/C eyes. You then feel his thumb doing small circles on your cheekbones.

"I missed you," He tells you softly,

Instead of answering you go on your toes and connect your lips once again with his. You inhale deeply through your nose as you kiss him and let it out through your mouth when they disconnect with his lips. Your hands were on his sides when you kissed him but let one travel up to your favorite part of him. Letting your fingers gently run through the back of his hair and massaging his scalp as you stare into those beautiful eyes of his.

"I missed you too," You tell him and make a smile appear on his face,

"Y/n, I'm so so sorry for leaving you like that," Stephen says but continues, "I promised you I would never leave you, and I did the one thing I told you I wouldn't do.. and I'm sorry," 

He was right, he did do what he promised he would not do. But then, he did have a right to do it since you are too afraid to tell him the truth, he has every right to be mad at you for any little thing you won't say and any little thing you do because he is trying to help but you just won't accept it.

"Stephen, it's okay. It was right for you to walk away because I deserve that, you're only trying to help and I'm stupid enough to not see it or let you," You tell him as you lower your head,

"I also promised I would let you help me, but I've been breaking that promise since the day at the coffee shop. But yet your still here... trying," You we're now looking at his eyes. Seeing how his have gone soft the time you were speaking and yours being filled with liquid, on the edge of being spilled,

"Because I care for you. I always will," He says and lets his lips connect with yours again, feeling your tears against his skin as he cherishes your lips and not caring that the kisses are turning salty by your tears,

Breaking the kiss to catch a breather he rests his forehead against yours. You let out a shaky breath and look up into his eyes with your wet ones. God did you love this man, you were going head over heels for him every second of the day and nothing was going to stop that feeling. 

You were scared he wasn't going to feel the same way as you, scared if you told him those three words he would not say the same thing. So you kept it inside instead and would wait for the right time to say it out loud. Before he can give you one last kiss the both of you break apart when you hear loud footsteps making their way towards you both.

"Well looks like I might need to go shopping for a suit," Stephen says with humor trying to act like you two weren't just sharing lovely kisses,

"At least you men have it easy, us women are very picky and sensitive with our dresses. We have to look perfect," You tell him as you both start walking outside the base,

"Even without the dress you still look perfect," He says and stops you by getting in front of you,

"Always so smooth with your words aren't you Strange?," You say laughing when it sounded funny,

"Well my mother always said I was a charmer," 

"And she wasn't wrong," Smiling at you with a smile that reaches his eyes you feel the awkwardness fading away in the air and being replaced with a vibe you are familiar with whenever you are with him,

He stares at you with pure love not caring that you two are now in the open, both exposed to anyone. You see how he wants to lean in but you stopped him with a light shove which causes him to chuckle when he realizes why you did it.

"I'll see you later then?," He asks while walking backwards not dropping his eyes or smile,

"Of course," You reply with a smile and watch him walk away and joining Bruce and Sam in their conversation,

Turning the other way to walk inside the building you take out your phone and dial the number to the person you needed the most at the moment. She has had many experiences with these types of missions and is great with disguises, so you needed her help.

"Hey Y/n!," Nat yells on the other end of the phone causing your ear to make an itchy feeling inside,

"I need fashion advice," You say getting to the point; the line is only quiet for a second before she speaks again, 

"I'll start packing,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> Next chapter will be posted soon!!


	10. Ballroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Smut!⚠️⚠️

3:00am

"Everything had happened so quickly, it was an honest mistake and I clearly remember mistakes are made!," Fury yells towards the screen where he was currently arguing with the government,

"Mistakes don't Cause thousands of civilians injured or killed," One of the men in the screen speak out,

Fury stays quiet for a second but looks up when the secretary says something he was hoping not to bring up,

"How many fatalities?," Fury didn't know how to answer, how could he? 

Getting annoyed by his silence and unresponsive they harshly speak again, "How many Fury?!!,"

"Two hundred and still counting," You closed your eyes and covered your mouth, this was your fault and you know it,

This wasn't how it was supposed to be, the plan was only supposed to be a simple walk in and get out. Unfortunately something else had plans and took it somewhere which ended the night horribly,

"Are you still positive you chose the right leader?," 

No.

No, you weren't positive. The moment they announced you as the new leader you were never positive.

*****************  
11:00 am  
16 hours earlier 

A month had passed and it was now the day of the event. Everyone was ready for the night to come while you were swimming in the pool of nervousness, excitement, and anxiety. This was going to be your very first mission and you couldn't get the butterflies from your stomach to stop.

It was barely the morning and you were feeling very awake as well with nervousness and you still had a couple more hours to go before the party started. For the past last whole month you couldn't sleep since you were still researching and trying to find more information about the Orlov Brothers, then you were out with Natasha and Shuri for dresses. You were not lying to Stephen when you had told him women were very picky about their dresses, each dress Nat would show you it would receive a 'No' or 'Doesn't look like it'll suit me.'

Once the month ended you basically only stressed about the dress, finding one was harder than you thought since you wouldn't really wear any. It would be rare, extremely rare when you wore a dress but only to special occasions. Time was flying quickly making you want to just grab it and cut off its wings so you can have time to process everything, unfortunately you couldn't keep up with it because it was now the day.

Getting up from your bed and walking towards your bathroom from your hotel meanwhile you were in Italy, you washed your face with it's freezing water. Everything was cold yet warm at times, it's climate change in Italy was confusing at times but still a beautiful country.

After changing into fresh clothes you walk out of your room and into your own small living room. Quill had insisted in getting a suite for everyone, making an excuse that he has never seen nor slept in one. Fury had made a couple calls and got four suites for everybody, plus an extra one to keep all the equipment and cameras inside. Both you and Shuri were on the same floor together while the men were on the bottom floor of you two, you felt bummed that Stephen didn't get the room next to yours but didn't complain about your own room when you found out it has a beautiful view of Italy.

Once you ordered some room service you plopped down on your couch and flipped the medium size flat screen on. Before you can change it to a interesting channel there was a knock on your door causing you to furrow your brows, feeling it too quickly for your food to be ready. Getting up from the couch you head towards the door and look through the small hole and smile when you see who it was.

Unhooking it's chains and opening the door to reveal a bed head Stephen. His hair was casually slicked to the back like any other morning, and had a dark grey shirt with some black adidas sweats and black slippers on his feet. 

"Morning," You tell him with a smile and give him a quick peck on his lips when he enters your suite,

Humming at your morning kiss and placing a strand of loose hair behind your ear he smiles back. 

"Morning," Grabbing his hand you lead him towards the couch and sit down with him following behind, taking off his slippers before laying down on the couch he pats his chest gesturing you to lay on him,

Without thinking you accept his invitation and rest your back on his chest. Feeling it warm against your back and humming softly when everything feels perfect at the moment. Staying against him was something you loved to do, after apologizing to him and fixing things between you two — everything was fine at the moment. Last month you guys had spend as much time as possible whenever there was a free moment, he would visit your home more often and bring lunch for the day and spending the night until the morning where he had to go back to the Sanctum.

Even if last month was a stressful month, Stephen would always know how to make it a better day each week. Visiting you, bringing food, kidnapping you from your work to have a movie night or just to cuddle next to you. Small things he would do would make your day ten times less stressful.

"How are you liking it here?," Stephen asks next to your ear as he keeps staring at the movie 'Cars 2' and smiling when they show Luigi happily reuniting with his family. Of course he knew you would put that film since it takes place in Italy,

"I love it. It's really beautiful," You reply back with a smile and getting more comfortable against him,

"Know what else is beautiful?,"

"Mmmm the view?," You ask sarcastically and smirk when you feel him give a small chuckle,

Staying quiet for a couple seconds and staring at you with love, he smiles not caring if you see him or not because he knows you know he has a smile on.

"Exactly," He says in the most softest tone you've ever heard him in,

Feeling your cheeks slowly burning up you give a shy giggle and turning your head to be able to stare into his eyes. Smiling up at him you bring your hand to his cheek, letting your fingers ghostly trace shapes on his skin before moving it to the back of his neck and bring him down to connect your lips onto his. It wasn't the best position to give a kiss to someone but it didn't last long.

Breaking the kiss when you hear another knock on the door and praying to god to let it be your breakfast when you realize your stomach is making loud groans. Lazily getting up from Stephens warmth and hold you walk towards the door and smiling widely when you see room service with your delicious breakfast. Once your food is rolled inside and giving the man a heavy tip you skip your way back towards your mouth watering food, making Stephen giggle at you. You had ordered some waffles, fruit on the side, apple juice, good amount of syrup, and a kettle to make tea. 

You have been trying to drink tea everyday to stop the cravings of your drug and alcohol, it works most of the time but the cravings only get worse by the day. It has been a month without your drug and you still crave it, on the other hand it has only been five days without any alcohol in your system and it was killing you. There would be times where you shake from cold, sweat, and have mood swings. Thankfully you never had any in front of anyone and only being alone whenever they decide to pop out. Also while having all of these symptoms Tony would even decide to show up which would make the situation even worse. 

Usually when he came out he would only complain about how you have the opportunity to ask for help and how you are pushing that aside to drown yourself in this addiction. Then you would lash out on him and start having a full on argument with him, probably making you look crazier than how you already feel.

After finishing your breakfast with the help from Stephen you sit down next to him again. Only this time you curl yourself under his arm and lean your head on his neck, while he has his fingered doing lazy circles on your shoulder. 

"I'm stuffed," You tell him as you try breathing with a bloated stomach,

"Even if I mostly cleared the rest of the plate?," He asks you as he reaches to the small coffee table in front of him to grab a grape and throwing it inside his mouth,

"It was not that much Steph," You tell him with a chuckle,

Humming in response he reaches out again to grab the last piece of fruit and placing it out in front for both of you to look at. 

"Want it?," You make a thinking noise, debating if you should take it but feeling your stomach to heavy already,

"C'mon, this may be the best strawberry there is but you won't know since you didn't have it," Stephen says when he sees you hesitating to take the fruit, he even manages to move it with his thumb and index causing you to smile,

Taking a long thought you decide to have it. Gently moving the strawberry towards your lips you take a bite and savor its sweet juice. You hum and close your eyes at what might be the best strawberry you've ever had. Biting the rest of it's piece, Stephen then leans down to give you a kiss before swallowing. 

It was slow but quickly started to escalate when you felt his tongue poking at your bottom lip. You smile against his lips and him taking his chance to forcefully shove his tongue between your lips making you gasp. You tasted the recent strawberry and tea on his tongue and groaning lowly when he starts to explore your own. Everything felt like a flash, feeling the mood escalating quickly when he easily grabbed you by your sides and sat you on his lap without breaking the kiss, having your knees on each side of his thighs.

You honestly thought he was going to finally give you what you have been begging for, for what seems like forever. Unfortunately the sound of a phone ringing broke the heated make out session. Letting your forehead rest against his own while you two pant heavily and staring in each other's eyes. Before answering the message he gives you one last peck and retrieves his phone from his pocket with you still on his lap,

"Bruce wants me to test some earpieces one last time," Stephen says after reading the message and tossing his phone on the side and wrapping his arms around your waist,

"Okay," You tell him and start to get off but felt his hold tightening every time you try to move,

"I'd rather stay here with you," His eyes meet yours making you feel lost in them once again, dam him for being blessed with such amazing eyes,

"You can't, it's something important for us and the mission. It needs to be well so.. go," You tell him as you softly pat him on his cheek and get off his lap,

He doesn't move, only stays seated on the couch as he looks at you with a smirk. Squinting your eyes at him while a smirk starts to form on the corner of your mouth you look at him with serious eyes.

"That was a order Mr. Strange," Making your voice sound more serious and commanding you saw how his smirk faded and was replaced by his pupils slowly dialing,

Letting a devilish smile appear once again he gets up from the couch and stands in your space, towering over you. His eyes stared down at you while yours went up, from this close you can see how blue and green were slowly being invaded by pure black, making it hard for you to see any color.

"Okay, Boss." He mocks your tone only this time it takes affect on you, feeling your breathing going faster and blush rising in your cheeks from how deep his voice had gotten,

You smile at him then turn your head away. Chuckling you give him a gentle punch on his stomach for making you blush, all he does is smirk wider if that's even more possible.

"Get out," You tell him with a smile and causing him to chuckle at your shyness plus embarrassment and leans down to give you a passionate kiss before he leaves,

"I'll see you later," He says against your forehead,

You nod your head and escort him to your door. Holding the door for him he places one last kiss on your cheek and walks away, you see him until he turns a corner and disappears.

Closing the door you walk back to the couch and heavily sit on it. You were smiling to yourself and didn't notice you had your hand covering your mouth where they once were attached to Stephens lips. Remembering how soft and warm they felt against your own, how his tongue would expertly dance with yours. How his scarred hands fit perfectly around your waist whenever he would hold you in place, how his deep breath taking eyes would stare at you making you paralyzed every time you make contact with them.

His hair feeling soft, warm, and fluffy against your fingers, feeling it push past every digit with ease. Everything about him was like heaven, everything about him.... you were falling madly in love for. Closing your eyes when you are going extremely head over heels for Stephen, feeling warmth inside your chest and letting another wide smile spread across your face probably making you look like an idiot.

Each moment, minute, second that you spend with him was only making your love for him stronger and more visible for you. You had never felt this way towards anyone, well besides Tony you had never felt this attracted towards someone or attached. All these new feelings were still new, being in a relationship was still new since you haven't been in one for quite some time. Feeling a hand intertwining with yours was new, feeling a body against yours while you wake up from a nap was new, sharing loving kisses and cuddles was also new. Everything, everything is new and you are starting to like these new feelings, not wanting them to ever end.

Then you remembered your conversation you had with Natasha when she came to help you with shopping. Both of you were having lunch after a exhausting and stressful day both of you felt the need to have food in your bellies and decided to go to a small café inside the mall.

**A Month Ago**

Taking a seat near a water fountain once a table was clear, you place your Victorious Secret bag on the floor beside you and look over the menu. Feeling your stomach growling whenever you see something that looks good or mouth watering. You were scanning the menu when out of nowhere it was ripped out of your hold making you look at a silver table in front of you.

Looking up you see Nat placing both menus in the corner and calling the waitress. Ordering you both a plate of salad along with a glass of water, when the waitress leaves with a smile you look at Nat with a disgusted look.

"Salad? Seriously? I'm starving here," You whine as you lean back in your chair,

"You are in a strict diet and you know it," Nat says as she swirls her water with the straw,

The moment you had figured out the mission and explained the plan you started training like crazy. Natasha would visit and train you herself, or Shield would provide you with a private coach who would teach you how to defend and fight back if needed. That was another reason why you hardly had any time to see Stephen. He too was training, studying new spells, training students, protecting the Sanctum and was looking for suits— which you couldn't wait to see it on him.

You were stressing more than usual since it was about to be the end of the month and you still haven't found a dress. It was killing you, each dress just didn't feel or look right on you. You had probably tried and looked at more than thirty dresses and you still haven't found the right one. It was coming to a conclusion that you'll just wear and old skirt along with a nice blouse, but of course Nat gave you a glare and forced you into another store.

Once your salads had came you poured a heavy amount of dressing on it and dove right in. Not really caring if it was just a salad at the time, you were really hungry and just wanted something inside your poor stomach already. 

"So, who's your date?," Nat asks while taking a sip of her water,

"What?,"

"Who are you taking to the Ball?," 

Finally understanding her question you reply back, "Oh.. Quill,"

"Really? What about Strange?," She asks with furrowed brows,

You look at her with the same expression, not really understanding why she was asking about Stephen. No one knew about your guys' relationship because it didn't really feel like one. Yes you guys did admit to each other on how you both feel, but never actually said the words 'Will you be mine?,' 

"Stephen? What about him?," You ask back,

"I mean why isn't he your date?,"

"Why would he?,"

Looking at you with a raised brow she continues, "Aren't you guys...A thing?," 

You lower your voice as if someone could be listening and lean on the table, "How did you know about that?," You really don't remember ever telling her about you and Stephen, so how could she know?

"I had my suspicions," She says and leans back in her chair and continues, "Seriously you guys didn't even try to hide it," 

"Really? Were that obvious?," You looked down at the table thinking about how exactly you guys act around each other,

"Yeah, you can see how much you love him by the way you smile around him," She says it like it didn't matter for her and continued playing with a piece of salad on her plate,

"Love?," You ask quickly and rapidly make eye contact with her,

Smirking at you she pushes her plate to the side and grabs her water twirling it in front of you while she keeps her eyes locked on yours.

"It's not a bad thing Y/n,"

"It will be if he doesn't feel the same," You had a feeling he didn't feel the same way, everything in your consciousness was saying he didn't but in your heart it was saying something completely different and making you have a million questions filling your head,

"Y/n, you should probably pay attention when he stares at you or smiles at any little thing you say," She says placing her cup down but continues, "I have, the moment you two bonded right away and I gotta say... whatever you two have is definitely stronger than what me and Bruce have," 

You were lost for words, nothing was coming out of your mouth just pure air and small little breaths. Never have you ever thought Stephen would stare at you whenever you weren't looking. Or smile at your stupid remarks or horrible jokes. 

Maybe everyone knew just by looking at the both of you to know something was happening between you two. People had been probably thinking you two have been dating for a while and you didn't even notice. You would be so lost with Stephen that you didn't know people have been watching the way you and him change whenever the both of you are around each other.

"Does he really stare and smile?," You ask when you are brought back from your thoughts,

Without replying to your answer she takes out her phone and starts typing and scrolling until she finds what she was looking for. She gives you her phone, you take it and look down at the screen that had a picture of Stephen smiling widely as he was looking down at someone. Pinching the screen to zoom out you see he was staring down at you as you were laughing at someone or something funny. It was a laugh that caused you to have a huge smile, dimples showing very visibly, and tears coming down your face from so much laughter. 

Zooming back to Stephens face you smile when you make contact with his smile. Seeing how it was a smile with full of adoration and love. A smile he only lets out when he truly cares about something.

"Now you see what I'm talking about?," Nat says when she sees you smiling widely at her phone,

"He loves you back Y/n, and there is nothing in the world that he would trade you for because you can see how much he cares for you," You look up at her and blush at her words, you chuckle shyly and give her phone back,

Every word Nat would say was slowly convincing you about Stephens love for you. Each word would make your heart race and warm up at the thought Stephen actually loving you back. It scared you since you've never remember loving someone else other than your father (at some point), and Tony. You never had a relationship where you would say those three words because they didn't really last long, last time you remember saying those words was in high school which was quite some time.

Now you are finally getting convinced that you'll actually mean those words if you say them again. Those three words would either change your life into something great or into something horrible.  
Which is why you decided not to say it to Stephen any time soon, fearing of scaring him away.

***Present***  
Shaking your head from the memory you get up and make your way towards your room to get everything ready for the party. Even if there was still plenty of time before the ball you wanted your outfit to be ready.

Once that was done you decided to take a relaxing bath with sweet calming music in the background. The bathtub was near a window which allowed you to stare out into the beautiful city of Italy, seeing cars, birds, people, and kids playing on the street. Taking a bath helped you with your nervousness and soreness from your muscles, feeling each muscle slowly relaxing under the warm water and bubbles building in front of you.

Time soon flew like a flash, it was now going to be two in the afternoon. Getting out of the tub and drying yourself off you out on some grey leggings along with a white T- Shirt and let your hair down to dry on its own. Usually whenever your hair was wet and you let it down to dry up, the wind would make it into nice wavy curls. You naturally had wavy hair but liked it when the wind would turn them into curls.

To waste couple more time you decided to go out with Shuri and explore Italy. That's when you convinced the men on letting you both go but failed since they were all going with you as well. Sighing in defeat you chuckle at their over protectiveness and walk out the lobby of the hotel with Shuri, she hooked her arm with yours as you both started to walk down the street. Bruce, Stephen, and Quill were right behind and observing the beautiful town and its amazing details. 

Every once and a while you'll look back and catch Stephen staring at you or admiring something, but mostly keeping a close eye on you. Smiling back you follow Shuri who was pulling you towards a crowd that seems to be having live music.  It was a group of men playing upbeat music, all men were singing, dancing, and smiling to one another as they go along to the song. Shuri getting amazed and lost in the music slowly started dancing with an elderly man, slowly moving to the beat and laughing when the man tried to spin her. Smiling at them you too soon start to move with the beat, you close your eyes and let the music invade your veins, feeling your hairs on your forearm going up as you feel the electricity of the music going in your system.

Slowly dancing on your own to the beat you then feel a pair of hands on each side of your hips, turning around you see Stephen looking down at you with a smile. You smile back and grab his hands from your hips to hold them out in front of you as you start to dance again. All Stephen does is looks at you with a raised eyebrow and shaking his head. You nod your head at him to make him move along with the beat but get rejected by another shake of his head, giving him a disappointed look you drop his hands and start to walk away. It hurt you when he didn't want to dance with you, but before you can walk away you feel a hand on yours and feel yourself being spin before landing on a firm chest. Looking up from your dizzy vision you see two blue, green eyes staring at you and a smirking Stephen. 

You smile and laugh when he surprised you with his little move. Smiling wider Stephen bends down to connect his lips with your own, not caring it was out in public where Bruce, Shuri, and Quill can see. Forgetting as well you let your lips attach onto his, it wasn't heated or fast, it was slow, caring, full of love, and gentle. Breaking the kiss to catch a breath you look at him in the eyes and let out a lovely laugh making him smile at you. That's when you noticed exactly what Natasha had said, everything about his smile said it all and you couldn't help but feel like you were floating in mid air at the moment. 

When the music ended everyone cheered and clapped along with you and Stephen. Music started playing again and bodies went back to dancing, you and Stephen managed to get out before it became into a big crowded circle. After trying to find Bruce and Quill, you both soon started to walk towards them who were both sitting on a stool next to a small bar and watching the crowd with a beer on their hands. 

"Having fun I see," Quill says with a smirk,

You furrowed your brows at him, not quite understanding why exactly he was staring at you the way he was. You then turned your eyes towards Bruce and saw him with the same expression, you then brought your gaze away and looked at Stephen who was slightly blushing but played it cool by giving an embarrassed chuckle.

Then it slowly started to click, they both witnessed you and Stephen giving loving kisses in the crowd. How? You never knew. You thought by being in the crowd it would be difficult for anybody to see, unfortunately you were wrong.

"I can explain," You quickly start to say but was waved off by Bruce,

"We all knew, well... we had our suspicions," Bruce says with a smile,

"And.. I won 20 bucks," Quill says proudly making Stephen laugh out loud,

"Really? You bet on us? With who?," You say and sit on a chair that Stephen offered you with,

"Yes I did, with Sam," He says and proudly takes a sip of his beer,

You chuckled at him and looked down at your feet. At least some people know now, you thought to yourself. Keeping your relationship as a secret was a constant weight on your shoulders, you just wanted to go around and tell everyone how happy you feel at the moment because of Stephen but couldn't. Having fear that they'll tell you it was a mistake, saying partners who work together and start dating end up in a bad way.  But they didn't, they thought the opposite which was a relief for you.

You then feel Stephens hand lean on your shoulder, you look up and meet his eyes and smile. He squeezes your shoulder before leaning down to peck your forehead.

"We're happy for you two," Bruce says with a smile,

"Thanks Banner, really," You tell him with a smile before getting up from the chair to give him a hug, 

After hugging both Banner and Quill you sit back down. Once that was settled everyone enjoyed the evening before getting ready for the actual event. Everyone had a good day, laughs, jokes, couple flirty moments with you and Stephen but the rest was full of fun. Quill would make kissing noises which would make you blush and make Stephen chuckle, or there would be times where you would just have a conversation with Shuri while the guys talk about god knows what.

****  
8:30

By the time everyone agreed to head back to the hotel it was already going to be eight o'clock. After showering your body once more you headed out the restroom with a towel wrapped around your body and grabbed your dress.  
It was a long dark blue dress, you had your hair up in a messy bun, with some black high heels along with Stephens necklace. You sprayed yourself with some perfume, and once you looked at yourself in the mirror and feeling proud at your master piece you left your room. 

Heading towards Stephens and Bruce's room to grab whatever you needed to communicate, you finally headed down to the lobby where everyone was waiting. Going down the stairs you see Quill, Bruce, Shuri, Fury and Stephen facing the other way not noticing you. The first person to actually notice your presence was Shuri and when she did, she made a whistle noise at your dress which made all the men turn your direction.

Bruce was smiling at you, Fury took a glance and made a comment on how nice you looked and headed out the doors, Quill was smirking at you and being proud you were his date for the ball. Stephen on the other hand was amazed by you, his gaze was stuck on you and seemed to not be blinking. He felt his heart racing when he saw you in the beautiful dress, feeling his chest being filled with warmth and falling hard for you than he ever fell over any women. He was quickly falling in love with you and he knew it, everything about you he was being extremely obsessed of. Your smile, eyes, heart, everything — he was completely in love with you and was fighting the feeling to tell you.

"Wow.. I'm definitely lucky to be your date tonight," Quill says at you which causes Stephen to glare at him, feeling jealousy rising in his chest when he knows you won't be his date and won't be there to dance with him or hug him during the mission,

Smiling and blushing at Quills comment you go down the last steps until your in front of both men.

"You look beautiful," Stephen softly tells you making you smile once again,

"Thanks guys," You say and place a strand of hair behind your ear and continue, "We should start going,"

"Yeah let me just get my coat," Quill quickly says and runs to the couch where his coat was hanging,

Without any questions Stephen offers you his arm, looking at you with the same expression of pure admiration and love. Looking at his offer and at his eyes you smile and hook your arm with his, he leads you both out the lobby and opens the car door for you.

"You look handsome," You tell Stephen while standing near the car. He had an all black suit with a white button up at the bottom and a black bow tie around his neck,

He really looked handsome and with his hair neatly combed to the side like usual, only difference was no hair was loosely hanging in his face. He smiles at you when he caught you staring at him, before entering you give a peck on his cheek and give him a small smile. 

Once you entered the limousine he was about to get in but was stopped by Quill when he placed his hand on his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow at his hand when he saw him touching him.

"Next time let me at least play the date okay?," Quill says with a smirk causing Stephen to blush,

Laughing it off and smiling shyly he reply's back, "Of course, sorry," 

With that they both enter the vehicle and let the driver take them to the ball. The whole ride there was you going over the plan once again and telling everyone what job they had. You had told them you would try and get close to the Orlov brother and try to seduce him into going somewhere alone to heavily drug him. Meanwhile that was going to happen you wanted Quill, Stephen, and Shuri to act natural and keeping their eyes open for any problems.

After nodding their heads in agreement and convincing Stephen you'll be fine alone with the dealer he finally agreed. He did not like the idea of you alone with a muscular, arm dealer man in one room but had no other choice since it was too late to change the plan.

After a long car ride you finally arrive at the ball at 9:15. Stepping out of the car with Quill and Stephen with Shuri behind, you headed towards the main doors. Showing your golden invitation to the security guard and saying your name to another who had the list of names, you finally got through the big doors and were now in the main hall of the beautiful mansion.

 

Two long staircases in each side, with a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Lights were flashing everywhere and music was heard from around the whole mansion, it was a very breath taking home for an elderly woman to live alone.

Bodies were everywhere, in the middle of the dance floor, on the second floor or chatting to one another near the stairs. Walking arm in arm with Quill and Stephen behind you with Shuri you walked more into the home but was stopped by a lovely women who seemed to be excited and eager to see you.

"I'm so glad you came! Ohh you haven't changed a bit!," She yells over the music with a deep Italian accent,

It takes you a couple seconds to remember her but was soon rushed by a wave of memories of her. She was the elderly women who send you an invitation to her event and was a very close friend with your father, you never knew how exactly they met but remembered you would spend most of your summers with her and her husband whenever your father had disappeared to wherever.

Smiling at her you give her a hug when she wrapped her small arms around your waist, "Forgive me but I don't quite remember your name," You tell her with embarrassment,

"Oh dear don't worry, it has been years since I last saw you. I'm Caterina," She says with a smile,

"Ahh yes, I remember when we used to bake every summer," 

She laughs at the memory which makes you smile at her. She was really adorable and was praying to god if everything goes as it supposed to go you would love to catch up with her.

"Is this your boyfriend?," She asks and points to Quill who was admiring the home in silence but quickly brought his attention to Caterina when he heard his name,

Before you can answer Quill beats you to it, "Yes, and you ma'm have a beautiful home,"

Seeing Stephen from the corner of your eye you see how he has gotten stiff and clenched his jaw. You wanted to comfort him and tell him it was only for the mission but couldn't, you did not want to risk the mission and risk him. 

This was a dangerous mission and a out of town mission so you decided to change everyone's identity except yours since you were known by the host. Bruce was not liking the plan more and more whenever it had to involve you not being safe, including Stephen. After talking to them both in private and alone you told them there was no other way or else you wouldn't be able to get in and the whole mission would be a bust.

"Caterina I'd like to introduce my.. boyfriend Andy, and both my close friends James and-," You were about to say Shuri's fake name when she had cut you off by her speaking,

"Shanon," Shuri says with a smile and manages an American accent which surprised you along with Stephen who had is arm linked with hers,

"Ohh what a lovely name, and handsome boys," She says as she gives you a gentle pat on your bare shoulder,

Both Stephen and Quill smile at her and give her a bowl as a thank you for the compliment. Once she had left you to enjoy the rest of the event the four of you make your way towards the bar, then Stephen and Shuri went off to look around for any unusual movements or anybody who looks like they are apart of the Orlov gang. You and Quill stood at the bar while having small talk to look like any other normal couple at the party.

After nothing exciting happening or the eldest Orlov brother not showing up Quill decided to take a break and head to the restroom. You were currently alone at the bar and seeing everything, admiring the home, seeing people chatting and laughing. You had made a promised to yourself that each and everyone in this building would be alive by the end of the night, no casualties would be made and no problems would be caused because it was going to be a simple lift.

While daydreaming about the plan and everyone's safety you were brought back when a deep Russian accent was heard from beside you. 

"Y/n?,"Turning where the voice was coming from you felt your heart racing when you saw who it was, Luka.

To not blow your cover you furrowed your brows at him, even if you were freaking out on the inside when he knew who you were.

"Do I know you?," You tell him dumbly when you know almost everything about him,

"Have I changed that much?," He says while lifting his arms in the air,

Shaking your head with a smile, and buying your lie he lets a small smile appear and gets close to you. You felt your body trying to back away but stayed in place to not show any type of fear.

"Here. Let me freshen your memory," He says while pinching his thumb and index finger together before lightly tapping you on your temple,

Suddenly you start receiving all kinds of memories you didn't know you had. It was images of a little girl and a boy happily laughing and playing together in the sand, or playing hide and seek outside a familiar house. Furrowing your brows to try and remember those children, when suddenly you made a gasping sound when the pieces when back together. 

Those two children running around and playing together was you and Luka. You then remember the feelings you had for him when you were growing up, remembered how much joy you would feel whenever you see him again. Or how much happiness you would feel inside whenever he would give friendly kisses on your cheek, these feelings were taken away from you by something because when you left back home with your father everything had disappeared. Luka was never brought back to your memories or the feelings you had towards him, it all seemed like he was just a fairytale and you only grew out of it.

"Luka?," You say after being invaded by old memories,

He smiles widely and nods his head at you. Without hesitation he gives you a surprising hug, you hesitated for a second but hugged him back with a smile.

"How- what did you..?," You ask not quite understanding how you instantly remembered him,

"It's this new device I'm currently building. It can easily make someone remember things even if those memories are deeply hidden away," He says with a smile and shows you the little gadget in his palm,

It was the size of a pebble and could be easily mistaken for one. He puts it away in his pocket when your done seeing it and continues talking with you. 

"Wow that's... that's some high tech right there," You say still a little surprised about what had just happened,

He smiles and nods at you with an expression you can't seem to figure out, but recognize that look. Before he can say anything else someone comes behind him and whispers something only he can hear, replying back in a harsh whisper in his own language the man leaves with a bowl.

"Sorry, may you excuse me for a moment?," He asks you when he's done speaking to the man in Black,

"Of course," You tell him with a smile, hiding your curiosity and try to not let him know you were trying to listen on their conversation,

Before leaving he bends down to give you a peck on your cheek, you froze when you felt his chapped lips on you but managed a small smile when he looked at you. When he left you let out a heavy breath that you didn't know you were holding, you started to pant for air after what just happened.

Many questions were running through your head. How did you remember him? How did he know you were here at the ball? What was he planning? Question after question was swimming in your head making it hard for you to answer them all at once.

"Bruce? Did you hear that," You lowly say into your ear piece,

"Yes, who was that?,"

"Luka!," You say a little too loud making people look at you weirdly smiling at them you make your way outside to speak in private,

"Why is he there? I thought it was only the older brother who goes to the events?," Bruce was getting up from his sitting position on the desk and started to nervously pace around the suite,

Feeling the same thing as Bruce you look towards the open door and having the feeling of something is wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here, from what you have known Luka likes to avoid anything that has to do with a party or a fancy event. Normally he'll just hide at his unknown home, so why did he decide to come to this event? There was so many questions Bruce wanted to ask you, but didn't want to make you have more pressure and more anxiety about the whole plan.

"I-I don't know, maybe he just got bored being at home? Who knows," You tell Bruce and smile when a waiter came outside to offer you some champagne,

Shaking your head no at the offer, avoiding any kind of alcohol is something you are trying to do but the waiter insisted and kindly handed you the glass.

"From Mr. Orlov," The waiter smiles and leaves you with a bottle of champagne in your hand, 

As soon as you saw him going through the door and disappearing into the crowd you tossed the champagne over the balcony. As much as you are craving it's burning taste down your throat you are trying to stay clean as much as possible, even if you are dying inside just for that one small taste.

You have been doing somewhat great at not drinking, or doing any kind of drug and you are planning to keeping it that way. No matter how many times you get cold, sweaty, or having horrible fevers you promised yourself you would get clean, for Stephen.

"I think I just found out why he's here," Shuri's voice comes into the earpiece, making you break out of your daydream from staring at the empty glass in your hands,

"He's meeting someone here... I think he's here for a deal," Shuri says causing you to furrow your eyebrows,

Make a deal? You thought to yourself. He never made a deal, that was Rico's job. Why would he be doing his brothers job? Who the hell knows. Every second that you are standing and trying to process one information another one makes its way on to the table and making the whole situation more confusing. Luka, the memories, Luka knowing you would be here at the ball just didn't make sense.

Everything was feeling so wrong at the moment but couldn't figure out why. You were not liking this feeling of negativity crawling it's way into your spine and filling the air with raw. 

"Y/n?," 

A voice was calling you but you couldn't seem to figure out who's voice it was. You were so lost in your thoughts and being filled with anxiety in your chest that you didn't know someone was outside with you, and trying to call out to you.

"Y/n stay with me," Hearing the voice again and feeling a hand on your arm brings you back from a slight anxiety attack,

Opening your eyes that you didn't know were close, you lock eyes with green ones. Focusing your vision you see it was Quill in front of you with a worried expression. Taking a deep breath and letting it out through your mouth you close your eyes once more to slow down your heart.

"I'm okay. I'm okay," You tell him when he gets closer and looking more worried,

"Everything will be fine, your plan will work. Just focus on that," Quill says softly as he rubs your bare arms and bringing warmth in the chilly wind,

You nod your head at him. He was right, all you had to do is focus on the plan and everything will turn out fine. Maybe Luka just wanted to attend today's event and come have fun, so you tried your best to push away all the negative thoughts from making their way inside your head and hooked your arm with Quill's when he offered you his arm.

"I got her Strange. She's fine," Quill says,

"Y/n? Are you okay?," You hear Stephens worried voice in your ear and smile to yourself,

"Yeah, I'm fine Steph," Hearing him give a loud sigh makes you smile once more,

It made your chest warm up knowing he was worried about you, well almost every day he worries about you. But this time it was adorable how he seemed very relieved to hear your voice. 

"So what do we do now?," Shuri's asks

"Stick to the plan," You say as you walk inside the home with Quill,

"Negative. We take him in as well," Ross harshly joins in the conversation making you roll your eyes,

"Stick to the plan Ross,"

"Am I the only one who thinks taking a Orlov in and letting the other brother go is a bad idea?," Ross lightly growls in the earpiece which makes you feel irritated by his stubbornness,

Ross always tries to do things his way, which works... at times. The only reason why your trying to take one brother in is to get information from him and then later bust everyone else who is apart of their team. 

"Our mission is to capture Rico. And that's it," You say with a hard, tone along with a hiss at the end, 

"Why take one in and then having to be looking over our shoulders and being paranoid?,"

"That's an order Ross!," You hiss loudly but not loud enough to be heard over the music that's playing and making people look at you,

"Fine," Is all Ross says which made you feel uncomfortable with the way he had said it,

Whenever it was a small simple reply it meant he was up to something, which of course you hated it when he makes plans without informing anyone else. 

After that small dramatic moment you went to towards the dance floor and stood by the bar as you watched bodies dancing along to the music. Quill was drinking whiskey but keeping track on how many he drinks, then out of nowhere decides to do small moves with the music. Looking at him through the corner of your eyes you see him bobbing his head to the beat, letting a small smile when you know he wants to dance.

That was Quill almost all the time. If there is music in the base he'll dance or sing along to it. For instance, last time you had visited the base to help Bruce with something, it had gotten too silent while working so you decided to put your phone at let random songs play. After what seemed like a couple minutes you see Quill dancing his way into the lab while singing along to Michael Jackson's song 'Beat It.' Both you and Bruce laughed at him but soon joined him without hesitation and forgetting about your work.

"We are wasting our time here, are you sure he's coming?," Ross comes between you and Quill and places his beer on the counter,

Rolling your eyes at him you reply at his inpatient-ness, "Positive,"

"I still think we should take in the youngest,"

"And I think that's not necessary,"

"It'll be safer when we have both the brothers under our eyes," Ross says as he leans on the counter with his forearms and takes a sip of his beer,

"Yeah and then we'll be having all their men up our asses," You tell him while still looking forward and continue, "I'm trying not to make a scene here Ross,"

"And you think drugging and kidnapping an Orlov won't cause one?," 

"As long as we do it stealthy then yes," 

"Well hate to break it to you but, that way almost never works," He says which causes you to glare at him,

Not matter how much you hated it, he was right. There was a fifty- Fifty chance this whole plan will go to shit and deep down you knew it, but you wanted to take your chances and make it work. You were going to do your best to make a very simple lift that one will even notice he will be gone.

"How bout you just follow your orders," You tell him with the most serious, hard stare you ever did to anyone,

Scoffing and smiling he gets his drink and stands near you. ,"Don't say I told you so," with that he turns and walks away,

The whole way you stared at him, glaring at him with annoyance and a little bit of hatred. Not because you didn't like Ross or anything, it was because he can always find a way to get under your skin very quickly. 

"Keep an eye on him, makes sure he doesn't do anything stupid," You tell Quill who doesn't hesitate and leaves after Ross,

Taking a deep breath and letting it out you start to think about Ross' words. He was right about everything, about leaving Luka free and letting him send all kinds of armed men after you, how having both brothers will be safer for everyone, also how everyone in this exact home will probably either get hurt or killed if your plan won't work. 

Voices were telling you to call off your plan and go with Ross' but another was saying everything will go out fine. Regardless if you'd went with Ross' plan there was still going to be a possibility of bullets flying everywhere. So no matter what plan there was, it would obviously end the same way. People getting hurt, killed and there was nothing you could do to stop it from happening, you didn't want it to happen mainly because you were probably not ready to see people get hurt or killed.

You weren't ready for a lot of things, but your main fear was seeing people die under your hands. Under your watch. During a mission. Or even during your vacation time, nothing will make you be ready for deaths and you knew that.

"You think he's right, don't you?," Stephens voice breaks you out of your thoughts, turning your head you see him standing beside you with glass in his hand and looking handsome as ever,

Sighing at his comment you reply, "As much as I don't want to, yes."

Nodding his head at you he takes a sip of drink and stays silent. He didn't want to say anything else fearing he'll only make you more irritated and pressured about the plan. Instead he scoots closer until his blazer arm is touching your bare one. Both of you were looking at everyone dancing on the dance floor, and seeing how Caterina was smiling widely as she was dancing with another elder man.

You smile at her but didn't see Stephen looking at you, he smiles as well when he sees it on you. He loved it whenever you smile or laugh at small little things, it would warm his chest and make his whole day brighter whenever he sees you happy. Thats all he truly wants for you and Peter, he wants to keep both of you safe from whatever comes its way to the both of you. He made a promise to a good man and is planning to keeping it until he physically can't anymore.

"So how exactly do you know her?," He asks curious on your relationship with this sweet women,

You Look at him when you don't know who he's referring to but get a quick nod towards Caterina and reply, "Not sure exactly how we met but.. I remember every summer with her," You say with a smile growing on your face when you remember those beautiful memories,

Then like any other good memory it turns into a dark one when you remember what had happened with you and Luka. You wanted to tell Stephen what happened but was actually feeling pretty nervous about it, but decided to just let it out.

"Speaking of memories... when I was talking with Luka he.. did something," He turns his head once you finished and saw how he furrowed his brows, you knew he was curious about it and getting a little jealous when you saw him clench his jaw,

"Okay," He says with a wave of his hand for you to continue,

"He had this gadget and he used it on me... he helped me remember memories that I didn't even know I had of him," He now gives you a stern look and gives a low hum for you to continue,

"Memories of us as kids, and how I... felt about him every time I'd see him," 

"So he helped you remember your crush about him," Stephen reply's with a dry tone and clenches his jaw,

"It's not a crush,"

"Well that's how you feel when you have a crush for someone," He says and sips on his drink,

"Stephen. It wasn't a crush," You say, "besides I only have eyes for this one man," you finish with a small smirk on your lips when you saw him relaxing his shoulders,

"Oh really? What's his name?," He asks,

"Mmm not sure. It's something Strange," You say sarcastically,

"Well does he have an expensive, hot suit?," He says while brushing his sleeve,

"Hot is not a word I'd use," 

"Oh yeah? What would you use?," He says as he turns to you,

Turning with him you let your hand reach towards his bow tie and fix it when you see it tilted on one side.

"I'd say... Sexy," Smirking up at him you then see how his eyes slowly go dark,

That's when you hear the upbeat music turning into a slow one. 

What would it take?  
To make you love me?

You stared into his eyes with pure love and kindness, as well with him giving you the same expression. He places his cup on the counter and stares at you again before speaking.

"Dance with me," It wasn't even a question it was more of a demand, he looked at you with loving eyes,

What would it take?  
To make. You. Love me?

"What about Quill?," You ask still looking at him and continue, "I know he wants to dance at least one song,"

Would it take flowers?  
Red roses from vines?

Would it take diamonds  
To let you know your mine?

"He can dance with me next time," He says with a shrug which causes you to smile,

He turns forward and offers you his arm which you gladly accept and let yourself get lead by him to the dance floor. The whole way you had a smile and only widen it when he easily turns you in front of him and slowly moves with you to the beat.

Well, I'll take you dancing  
And sweep you off your feet  
What do you need to know  
You're the only one, one for me?

And what would it take  
To Make You love me?  
What would it take  
To Make. You. Love me?

The whole song he kept his eyes locked with yours as he swayed to the song with you. Sometimes he would lower his hand until it would be on your lower back and would push you more against him. He would spin you and bring you back towards him, towards his chest.

"Wow, I never knew you could dance," You tell him as you slowly sway with the music,

"Well maybe we should dance more often then like that I can show you some moves," He reply's back with a smirk,

"You've got moves?,"

"How bout this.. a nice dinner just me and you, and then a small dance so I can show you my moves," You look at him with gentle eyes and feeling your chest warm up when you take his invitation as a date,

"Sounds like a date," You tell him,

"It could be if you'd want it to be, we've been together for at least a month and we haven't gone to a proper date,"

"Would you?," You ask before he spins you and brings you closer than before, close enough where his nose touches yours,

"The moment I first saw you. I wanted to take you out," He says as he stares at your eyes and gently rubs his nose with yours,

"Then I guess it's a date," You tell him with a smile and hug him tightly,

He wraps his arms around your body and leans his chin on top of your head as he moves you two to the music. You were leaning your head on his chest and closed your eyes as you inhaled his beautiful cologne, it was a mixture of black ice and Sauvage. Smiling at his scent you make your hold on him tighter and making him do the same.

Opening your eyes you then see a tall familiar man with tattoos covering his face and see Luka making his way towards him and then hugging him with a smile. 

"Heads up, target just walked in," You hear Sam's voice,

You break your hug with Stephen and walk to find Quill and Shuri with Stephen behind. Once you find them you all get into position, you and Quill take downstairs near Rico, Stephen and Shuri take upstairs to be able and have a good vision of everything and Ross pretending to be a regular man flirting with any women.

It took a while but finally got the chance to get close enough to Rico and spike his drink. Going back to the bar you stand near Quill and stare at Rico who was swirling his drink, with just a small move his lips would connect with the rim of the cup but stopped in the middle. Your furrowed your brows when you saw him hesitating to drink, thinking the plan went bad you were getting prepared for anything but was caught off guard when he slammed it against a mans head and making a scene.

Soon a brawl was beginning in his section, security guards and other men were trying to break the fight. Then that's when you see Ross walking towards the fight with two of his men looking eager of whatever they were going to do. Giving Quill a slap on his chest you quickly make your way towards Ross, you grabbed him his shoulder before getting in front of him.

"Whatever your about to do, don't," 

"This is our chance,"

"I said stand down-," Being interrupted by a loud bang and people screaming you turn around to see Rico's men shooting at other men with guns,

Running to grab any kind of cover to protect yourself from getting shot, you ended hiding behind a table that had flipped over. As you were hiding you managed to take a sneak peak from the side and saw Ross shooting back at Rico's men, then as you were about to get up to help him out you were suddenly grabbed and thrown on your back. It was a man dressed in black, he tried stomping you but you quickly locked your leg with his and angled your body at some way until you hear a faint snap and a roaring scream coming from the man.

Getting up from the floor you quickly ran next to Ross who was taking cover behind the stairs and shooting back. Without looking he passed you a Beretta 92 along with some cuffs which you accepted, after waiting a couple seconds he blindly shoots to let you run past them and up the stairs where Rico had ran. Checking each room for him was only a disappointment, he was nowhere to be seen and was making you get nervous that he had escaped.

Turning a corner with your gun out in front of you, you raised it up when you heard a noise through a door. Opening the door slowly you saw a couple bodies laying on the ground, blood surrounding them and dripping down their chest. You quietly make your way towards them and placed two fingers on the side of their neck for any movement, nothing. 

Closing your eyes at the feeling you did not want in the first place to show up. This was the reason why you did not want any dramatic scenes, people get hurt or killed and it would be under your hands and there was nothing in the world that was not going to stop your from blaming yourself. 

You opened your eyes when you hear a creaking sound behind you, turning around you were met by two strong hands wrapping around your throat and picking you up from the ground. You punched and kicked at Rico, trying to break free from his hold but would only feel it getting tighter and tighter and harder for you to breathe.

"Shield should learn to stay away," He says in his Russian accent and revealing his golden teeth making you feel uncomfortable when his mouth was extremely close to your own,

Instead of replying with a snarky comment, if you could have. You let your foot connect with his lower- vulnerable half, causing him to groan out loud and dropping you on the ground. Choking and gasping for air you manage to retrieve the small extra sedative from your ankle and stab it on his neck. With its needle in his skin you weren't prepared for a hard blowing hit on your stomach, causing the little air you had to disappear out of your body. 

You fall to the floor again to try and catch air once again, as that was happening you saw Rico getting up from the ground and yanking out the needle from his neck before storming out of the room. Clicking the small button in your ear and through a hoarse voice you let everyone know Rico is trying to escape and to grab him quickly. 

You get up from the ground when your back to normal and make your way towards the stairs where firing is still being heard. As you got to the stairs you see Luka bending down and applying first aid with his bloody hands on a man, even when there's bullets flying everywhere he was still trying to stop this poor man from bleeding to death.

Running down the stairs you fall down on your knees near him and placed your hands on top of his own. You see how he looks at you in shock and with a stern look, you also see him having small drops of sweat along with specks of blood on his face.

"I need medical care ASAP!," You scream in your earpiece for anyone to hear,

Thanking god for helping, you see Shuri quickly making her way towards you but stops when she sees Luka beside you. Then she sees the man on the ground and runs once again until she's crouching in front of you.

"Call an ambulance, and call Fury. We need more backup to end this shit hole," You say,

Nodding at your order she runs through the doors while screaming something probably either at Quill, Stephen, or Sam.

"Fury?... your from Shield?," Luka says as he looks at you with anger and hatred, but still with sadness in his eyes,

"I'm only here for your brother," You tell him hoping he won't try and kill you on the spot,

As if on cue you both look up when you hear something being knocked down loudly on the ground. Standing with two nuclear arms was Rico, he said something in his language only Luka was able to understand because he quickly wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you with him when his lunatic of a brother started to fire at nothing but expensive glass, sculptures and paint. 

Pieces of cement covered your face and body when it would be destroyed by the weapon, you tried protecting your head by raising your hands over you. Luka did his best to protect you more than he did to himself, not caring if dirt, glass, or rocks were landing on him. He only wanted to make sure you were being safe from everything.

Then suddenly everything turned out quiet, too quiet. Getting up from Luka's hold you saw Rico lying on the ground, without thinking Luka runs to his brother but was stopped by his men and dragged him away to help him escape. You walked towards his body to check if he was dead but saw him breathing heavily, then you remembered you sedated him not too long ago but was impressed he fought it until it knocked him out.

You looked up when you heard heavy footsteps running behind you, with reflexes you raised your gun at whoever was trying to sneak up on you but was only met with a surprised Stephen. He had a busted lip, suit covered in dirt and a little bit of blood going down his left eyebrow. He lowered his hands when you lowered your gun.

"You okay?," He asked as he placed his warm hand on your bare shoulder and the other on your cheek, 

He let his eyes rapidly exam your whole body for any wounds but instantly landed on your neck that was covered in visible red marks. Anger was soon boiling inside of him when he saw those marks and turned his head towards the man heavily passed out on the ground. Clenching his jaw he starts to walk to Rico but you stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"Stephen..," You shake your head when he meets your eyes,

He sees how tired and broken you are through your eyes. He knows you've seem too much today and will only see much more when you walk outside. Bodies were literally lying inside and outside the mansion, it was like hell in the place. The whole house was destroyed and covered in blood, bullets, dirt, cement, and broken glass on the floor.

"Take him to the base... I'll meet you there," You tell him with a soft tone,

"I'm not leaving you here,"

"Stephen. Please,"

He hesitates but nods his head and makes a portal for his cloak to levitate in the home and without any problem picks up Rico from the ground and leads him to another portal Stephen had made. Stephen steps inside behind his cloak and closes the portal before giving you a worried look.

Once he was gone you slowly look around the home, and see how it is only a mess. You feel your eyes being filled with liquid the more you stare and see body after body on the floor. You then feel your heart broken when you see Caterina lying on the floor as well, blood falling from her soft skin and her beautiful blue eyes not being filled with joy anymore since they are closed.

You feel your tears going down your cheeks, feeling your whole heart getting more broken than it already is. She was not supposed to be here during the fight, she was supposed to be somewhere far from here. But after all it was her home where the party was taking place. She was the host and couldn't leave since it was her home and now she won't be able to call it home anymore now that it's destroyed. You sat down near her still, but warm body and held her hand with yours as you let tears fall down your face not giving a flying fuck that your makeup is probably staining your face.  
You don't know how long you stood there but felt two pair of arms lifting you up from the ground and leading to the Quinjet. The whole flight you stared blankly ahead, only being lost in your head and picturing Caterina's dead body in your mind.

*****  
"Are you still positive you chose the right leader?," 

No.

No, you weren't positive. The moment they announced you as the new leader you were never positive.

You were standing in the dark and overhearing Fury arguing with the government and trying to protect you from any comment they were making. You felt guilty when he was taking your side and defending you about completing the mission, even if it caused many lives.

"Not every mission always has a happy ending, those were your words Sir aren't I correct?," You hear Nick say,

"Yes, but that doesn't-,"

"Then why is it different for her?,"

Nothing is said only silence is heard.

"Just make sure this son of a bitch gets what he deserves," You finally hear from a different voice and then silence again,

You then come to conclusion they had ended the call, you were still standing there when Fury started to talk with Hills about something. You soon got lost in your thoughts again about how many lives you could of saved if the mission hadn't gone the way it had. You didn't know how Stephen was staring at you when he finally found you after searching the base for what seemed for hours.

"Y/n," He says which breaks you out of your horrible thoughts,

With a nod of his head he leads you to a portal which was leading outside of the base. You walked to the rail and looked at the glowing lights of New York, letting your mind wander off once again.

After a while of silence you speak.

"I could of done more,"

Looking at you with furrowed brows, Stephen turns his body until he fully faces you, 

"It was a drastic moment Y/n, you wouldn't of known,"

"But I could of figured something out, everyone would be alive if I...," You couldn't finish because tears started to fall down your face again,

Quickly wiping your eyes with his thumbs he rests his hands on either side of your face and looks at you with stern eyes.

"It's not your fault," 

You scoff and release his hands from your face and reply, "If I hadn't signed that paper none of this would of happened.. what don't you understand?,"

"Regardless it would of happened, what I don't understand is why your blaming yourself," 

"Every life that ends on my watch, will be on my hands," You say with closed eyes and continue, "I don't deserve this position Stephen... I'm poison,"

Opening your eyes you finally observe his whole feature, his messy hair combed to the side with loose strands going down his head, his bow tie hanging loose around his neck and his button up untucked with the first two buttons undone. He looked like he came from a wild party, or bar fight with his dry bloody lip and brow.

"Everyone around me gets hurt or worse... and I don't want you to get hurt," You start to say,

He clenches his jaw hard enough to make his teeth crack when he has a feeling on what you were going to say next. He fixes his eyes with yours and stares at you with pure anger, tiredness and seriousness.

"No! Don't even think about me leaving you. I will never leave you just because you think I will get hurt for some stupidity thought you have." He says and stares at yours eyes with hard eyes, then he roughly kisses you catching you by surprise,

You feel his tongue forcefully shoving itself between your lips and dancing around with yours. You grab onto his label of his blazer and the other hand behind his neck, you grab his hair to pull him away but failed when he did a movement with his tongue, making your knees go weak.

"Stephen," You pant between his amazing lips,

Easily picking you up from the floor you wrap your legs around him.

"I'm gonna show you how much I care for you," He says against your lips as he leads you both through a portal you didn't know he made,

You then feel him gently laying you down on a bed. Where exactly? You didn't know, but could care less when you saw how he was hovering and staring at you with those beautiful eyes. He bend down until his lips captured yours in such a soft, gently manner and not like he did back on the roof. He then let his soft lips travel down your face, to your neck and collar bone. Placing loving kisses here and there.

He then easily let his hands travel behind you to unzip your dress, once it was unzipped he lowered its straps down your shoulders until it revealed your bra. The whole way while it was going down he would place kisses at new skin that would be revealed. You then moaned when you felt him kiss your breast over your bra, he then started to get rid of the rest of the clothing with your help. After being only in your black bra and underwear he takes you in under the little light from the moon shining through the window.

He sees how beautiful you look from the moonlight, notices how firm and fit you are. He couldn't stop staring at your body, only being able to admire that will soon be pleasured by him.

You see how he was still fully clothed and meet contact with his eyes when they raised from your body. Feeling a bit uncomfortable from his stare you slowly bring your arms in from of you to cover yourself, but before you can hide Stephen goes between your legs and hovers over you with one hand supporting his weight.

"Don't. You look beautiful," He says as he softly removes your hand that is cover your chest,

Letting him move your arms away and kissing you once again all over your body. He soon shrugs off his blazer and bow tie and blindly tosses it somewhere in the room and goes back to giving loving kisses. You feel his kisses start to travel further and further which was making you go extremely impatient with his slowness, then you feel once behind your back and unclamps your bra. He removes it with his teeth and causing you to get chills when the chilly air hits your bare chest, without hesitation Stephen lets his mouth wrap around your nipple causing you to growl in your throat.

Swirling his tongue around the bud and making it perk up before gently biting it. He repeated his actions with the other breast until he had you panting for him. Raising his head towards your lips he gives them a peck before kissing his way down where you've been craving it. He teases you by kissing your core through your black undies and you moan as well as letting a small whimper out. Smirking when he heard you, he grabs onto the side of your underwear and slowly pulls it down — kissing each soft skin that is being revealed.

He tosses your underwear beside the bed and doesn't think about it when he sees your aching core, all he does is dives right in which causes you to let out a gasp. With hooded eyes you managed to look where Stephens head is being buried down your core and pleasuring you with such amazement. You then grab a hold of his hair when you feel his tongue moving up and down on your clit and only tighten your hold when he starts to add a finger inside. He was licking your clit at a fast pace while his fingers were moving dangerously slow in and out of your center. You were panting, and moaning like crazy from what he was doing to you.

"Stephen," You moan out when you feel him adding another finger inside of you,

Feeling the very familiar burning sensation in your stomach you start to feel your breathing quicken, this only caused Stephen to eat you out more faster and roughly fingering your core until you finally reached your climax and spilling it on his tongue. Cleaning bits of your juices from his chin with the back of his hand he brings his lips towards yours and lets his tongue easily enter your mouth, and only feeling your core getting more wetter when you taste yourself on his tongue.

Reaching a hand up to his chest you start to undo his buttons, after him helping you he shrugs it off and goes back down to capture your lips. You let your hands travel down to his chest until they stopped on his belt buckle which you didn't hesitate to undo as well. Once they were loose you let your hands grab onto his bottom and pushed him towards your naked core with his clothed erection which you automatically felt.

Seeing how desperate and needing you were he gives you a small peck on your forehead and tells you to relax, he's going to lead the way. You didn't complain since you knew he wanted to make you feel good after a horrible night. It was still night time, which meant you remembered about the event that happened not too long ago. As Stephen was removing the rest of his clothes and placing a condom on his hard erection you were starting to feel tears building up behind your eyes.

Quickly hovering over you again and lining his cock with your entrance he teases you by entering his tip. He keeps doing that to open your core a bit more when he feels it tight around his head. Then he soon starts to push in making you moan out loud at the burning sensation, it has been months since you last had any intercourse with anyone so of course it was going to be painful. After slowly pushing in he was finally in, but stayed still to let you get used to his length. Taking a few deep breaths you nod your head at him to continue, he smiles at you and kisses your forehead before slowly moving inside of you and making you both groan together at the amazing feeling you were both receiving.

He was going at a very slowly pace which was driving you crazy since he was hitting all the right nerves and making you climax easily more than three times already. Then he soon starts to pick up his pace and lets his face hang on the side of your cheek, feeling his hot heavy breaths and grunts on the side of your ear. Everything about what had happened, the pleasure he was giving you, and the swelling of relieving your climax was becoming too much for you that you soon started to cry. You felt hot tears rolling on the side of your eyes, and let out a groan when Stephen roughly snapped his hips causing his tip to connect with your g-spot. He did that for about four times until he pulled all the way and slammed back in, then once again, then two more times and then one last time.

Before he slammed his member back inside you wanted to tell him already. You couldn't take it anymore, you couldn't keep inside anymore so if he rejects you then now you know your heart will be officially broken.

"I Love You Stephen," You managed to say through pants and see him stopping himself from ramming his cock back inside of you,

He stares at you with wide, lustful eyes but quickly relaxes. Instead of answering he enters you once again and groans on your lips from the pleasure he gets. You groan back and feel him kissing you with love which you accept back.

Breaking the kiss and looking up to your E/c eyes he stares at you with pure love and speaks making your heart race faster than it already is.

"I love you too,"

With that you roughly smash your lips with his and kiss him passionately while he moves agains you. You break the kiss and pant against his lips when you feel yourself getting closer.

"Steph... I'm gonna..-," You say through heavy pants

You then feel him lifting your leg onto his forearm and the other hand above your head as he picks up his pace. Groan and moaning louder with you when he feels himself reaching his own climax he starts to go faster, and making the bed frame hitting the wall from how hard he's moving. You groan out loud on his lips when you finally reach your climax, he too fills the condom when he feels your walls clenching hard on his cock and letting out grunts along with moans against your lips.

After staying in that position for a while he slowly pulls out making you shudder at the empty feeling. Quickly removing the condom and throwing it away through a portal he brings his attention back to you. He sees how you were crying, letting worry wash over his face when he thinks he took it too far and might of hurt you he gently placed both his hands on either side of your face and lifts your head until your meeting his beautiful orbs.

"Did I hurt you?,"

Shaking your head no and only crying more he hugs you towards his naked chest. Then he soon realizes why you are crying and only tightens his hold around you, he kisses your head and rocks you both until you calmed down. Once that happened he brought you both back down to the mattress and spooning you while wrapping a protective arm around your bare stomach. He traces invisible shapes on your skin until he knows you had fallen asleep, he stays awake for a little longer to admire your beautiful sleeping face with the moonlight glow coming from the window. He smiles when he finally let those words out, when he finally told you how he truly felt and widening his smile more when you felt the same way.

"Good night Y/n, I Love You," He says and lets his eyes close before giving you a long passionate kiss on your head,

He is finally saying how he truly feels about you and cannot wait to tell you everyday for as long as you want, and couldn't be more happier at the thought of just saying those three words whenever he'd like. He may still have some suspicions about you but will let that feeling aside to cherish the new feeling and making you happy.

Only problem was... will you ever be happy after what you think you had caused? Or will you try to ignore that feeling and believe Stephens words and try to focus on a relationship that seems to be getting more stronger each day? You didn't know what to choose so instead you'll just rest after an emotional— yet amazing night and will figure the rest when the morning comes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter is being written!! ⚠️


	11. No Other Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight Smut ⚠️  
> Peter and Y/n have an intense conversation nothing too serious though!

The sound of birds chirping and the sun shinning through the window wakes you up. With your hand you try to shield the brightness away from your face as you try to focus your sleepy vision. As you try to open one eye to glance around the room you feel a heavy weight on your back and on the side of your body. Looking down you see an arm, you follow it to see who it belongs to, and only being met with a sleeping Stephen.

His upper body was exposed and his chest would rise up and down every time he'll take a breath. You let out a smile when you remembered the night before, the night where he confessed his love for you and took care of you. But of course you also remembered the event and how horribly it ended, you remembered people screaming, running, getting shot, killed, hurt, and seeing all kinds of bodies laying on the ground in their own puddle of blood.

You then remembered seeing Caterina on the ground as well, blood covering her chest and the floor. You felt a tear slip down your cheek when you remembered grabbing her hand and squeezing it as you were on the ground beside her and letting tears going down your face. 

You close your eyes and wipe away the tear that managed to slip out. Turning your head to take a glance at Stephen and seeing he was still asleep, you smile at the beautiful man and slowly get up from the bed and his hold. Once you were free from his arm and from the bed you then realized you were back in your own home. Stretching you make your way towards the bathroom before grabbing Stephens shirt and your underwear that was on the floor.

You buttoned the shirt all the way, only revealing a small gap on your chest. Smiling when you get a huge scent of Stephen from his shirt, you look at yourself in the mirror and admire it on you. It was pretty long that it covered your lower half and making it seem you only had a shirt on. As you stared at your own reflection you then started remembering the night where you and him finally revealed each other's feelings and Stephen giving you what seemed like the best night you ever had.

Touching your lips when you remember his lips connecting with yours, then you touch your neck where there is a small visible mark, and then covering your mouth when you burst out smiling. Smiling at the thought of you and him saying those three words.. and both of you guys meaning it. You smiled like an idiot when you think about being able to finally say it out loud to him and not having so much fear or anxiety about him not feeling the same way. Everything was slowly falling back to place in its own pace, it wasn't something that you wish it would take its time to finally be fixed but you were glad the relationship you have with him is only getting stronger each day.

"How bad did it hurt?," His voice brings you back to reality,

Opening your eyes that you didn't know were close, you see him standing by the doorway with no shirt and only his dark navy boxer briefs. The suns light makes him look more beautiful and handsome then ever, and making you have difficulty looking away from his exposed body.

"What?," You ask not fully understanding what he means,

"I know it's been a while since you've..," He says while awkwardly leaning on the doorway,

You let out a small chuckle when you finally understand his question. He's so adorable whenever he gets worried about small things. You thought to yourself.

"It didn't," You say as you slowly make your way towards him and letting your hand go to his waist when your in front of him,

"It was amazing," You say again and look up to his eyes,

Hey brings a hand on your cheek and caresses it with his thumb as he stares at you with such love, kindness, and soft eyes. He then slowly leans down until his lips attach to yours, he kisses you gently. Not fast, not rushing it, not desperate, just pure and full of love. He breaks the kiss and leans his forehead with yours as he stares in your eyes, he lets a smile appear before he speaks.

"I love you," This time it was you who brought his head back down and reattaching each other's lips,

You let your fingers grab on his hair and massaging his scalp, you then feel his hands on your hips and feel them going down until they're firmly on your bottom. With a untroubled swift he lifts you up and places you on the sink, you gasp when you feel it's cold tile under you bare thighs. When he feels you gasp against his lips he lets his tongue enter your mouth smoothly causing you to groan low in his mouth.

Things soon started to escalate when you felt something growing on the inside of your thigh, and then when you feel his fingers slowly undoing your buttons. Once the buttons were done he didn't shrug off your shirt, instead he started to kiss your neck— and collar bone and then back up to your lips. Then feeling his hands going up your thighs until they land on the waistband of your underwear and dragging them down until they fall on the ground. He kisses you as he starts to rub your clit with his fingers making you whimper in his mouth, he too groans when he feels how wet you are and still open from the previous night.

With his other hand he pulls down his briefs, enough to pull out his harden erection and not waiting any longer as he enters you fast but gently to not hurt you. Both of you let out a groan at the amazing sensation traveling through your bodies, you give out small gasps against his lips as he moves inside of you at a fast pace. He places one hand on the sink while the other one is leaning on the mirror to steady himself as he penetrates you at a regular pace.

It didn't last long since it was still pretty early and both of you were exhausted from staying up late. Reaching your climax you let out a moan near his ear and lightly pulling at his locks, before bursting as well he pulls out and pumps himself until he spills his load on your stomach. Once he finishes you bring him down for one last kiss, it was long and passionate.

After having romantic kisses both of you decided to take a quick shower. Unfortunately it wasn't a quick shower since you both got lost in each other's embrace, and made love once again under its warm water. Getting out and drying off you put on comfortable clothes, as well with Stephen making a portal to his room to grab fresh clothes. Once cleaned and changed you both made your way downstairs and into the kitchen to get brunch. By the time you got out of the shower and checked the time you saw it was already noon.

After deciding what to eat, you made pancakes. During the process in making breakfast it would turn to quick pecks on the lips or cheek whenever one would pass, and then turning into a mess when one threw a spoon full of pancake batter. By the time everything was done, both you and Stephen were once again dirty with pancake batter all over your faces and clothes. But being to hungry and lazy to change, you both decided to eat first and then later change into cleaner clothes— again.

After finishing and watching a weird movie both of you decided to finally get up and change, but unfortunately one saw the other changing and ended up together on the bed. But with a slap on Stephens shoulder you told him it was time to go back to the base, agreeing with you with a smile and staring at you with pure love he kisses you softly. This time it was just a small peck since he pulled away and did a hand motion in the air, less than a second both of you were clean once again.

Before making a portal back to the base Stephen excused himself to take a call when his phone rang and saw it was from Wong. He left out into the balcony of your room and took the call. He smiled through the window which you returned. Hearing your phone ring you went to grab it from the night stand, you saw it was from Nat. Reading the message you felt your heart drop and feeling your breathing becoming faster.

Have you seen the news?  
-Nat

Leaving your room and going downstairs you instantly turned on the tv and switched the channels until you found any news. It literally didn't take you long since every newscast was talking about it, you left it on one channel and heard what they were saying.

"Horrible shoot out in Italy, causing six hundred lives," The news reported says and continues, "from what the police have said the first victim to cause this such thing was Rico Orlov, one of the most wanted arms dealers in Russia,"

The more she talked about it the more your chest felt like it was getting tighter. You stared at the screen and listened to everything that the reporter was saying, things like Shield could have done better, The Avengers should have been there instead.. but little did they know you guys were. 

Being too lost in your own thoughts and listening to the tv you didn't notice Stephen coming down the stairs. The sound of the tv brought his attention, he then clenches his jaw when he saw the mansion destroyed and covered with police everywhere. He looked for the remote but couldn't find it, until he saw it in your hands. Gently he removed it from your hold and turned the screen off, dropping the remote on the couch he looks back towards you.

He saw how you weren't breathing, saw how you were just staring blankly at the black screen. Without hesitation he reached out for you, but you moved away and brought your wet eyes to his worried ones. Stephen felt his heart clench when he met your eyes, he knew you were blaming yourself with what had happened, he also knew it would be difficult to convince you that it wasn't.

"Y/n-,"

"I know I can't save everyone... but with that many deaths on a first mission..," You couldn't finish since you felt your throat being to tight with tears that threaten to spill,

Feeling a huge lump in your throat from how hard you are trying to keep the tears inside and not letting them out.

"It was something that happened out of nowhere Y/n, you know that," Stephen says softly to not cause you to freak out,

"Yes, but if it's under your eye... everything will be your fault," He looks at you with a hard stare and slowly makes his way towards you,

Once he's fully in your space, he places both hands on either side of your face and stares hard into your E/C eyes before speaking in the most serious, deep voice.

"It. Was. Not. Your fault," Closing your eyes and leaning to his touch you tried to believe his words, no matter how hard it was for you to do so,

He angles your face again until its straight and your eyes are meeting his again. He stares for a good long second before leaning down and giving you a small but rough kiss, you moan at his movement but gladly return it. You feel him diving his tongue in your mouth and feeling him dancing with yours, you just let him take control since you knew you would lose over his profession. He then breaks the kiss, too soon for you since you were chasing his lips to taste them one last time. Chuckling at you and giving you what you want he leans back down for one—small peck.

Retrieving your lips you stare into his beautiful orbs and getting lost in them. You then wrap your arms around his waist and let your head get buried in his firm chest, he also wraps his arms around your body and places his chin on top of your head. Both of you stayed like that for quite some time until he remembered you had to get back to the base, breaking the hug he makes a portal that leads right into the compound of the Avengers.

Being the gentleman that he is, he lets you go in first with a smile. You smile back and walk through the orange sparks, as you were walking with Stephen behind you, you heard your name being called by a familiar voice.

"Y/n!," It was Peter who was making his way towards you and hugging you tightly when he reaches you,

"Hey Pete," You say with a smile but drop it when you hear screams coming down the hall, "What's going on?,"

"It's Ross. He won't stop," He says back with a worried expression as he looks back down the hall where he came from,

Looking from Peter to the hall he's staring at you quickly walk down with Stephen and Peter on your heels. Turning the corner you see Bruce, Sam, Quill, couple guards, Rocket, and T'Challa standing behind a glass window and seeing Ross punching Rico with all his force. Everyone outside the room brings their gaze towards you, even Sam sighs loudly when he finally sees you.

"What the hell is going on?," You ask even if there is a clear picture in front of you of what exactly is going on,

"Well since no one is here, Ross takes over," Sam says,

"What about Fury?," You ask,

"Like I said, no one is here," Bringing your gaze back at the window you see how Rico is awfully bleeding from his nose, lip, and eyebrow. Blood is even coming down the side of his temple from how many hits he had been receiving,

"Well I'm here now, tell Ross to wrap it up," You say out loud and look towards a guard, nodding his head at your order he starts to walk to the door but you stop him when Ross says something that catches your attention,

"What lady?," Ross asks through heavy breaths,

"The lady with so much potential," Rico says with his deep Russian accent and looks towards the window as he continues, "she's here,"

You lock eyes with him, even if he can't see you— you know he was looking at you, you then see how his smirk only widens through the window.

"Is he talking about you?," Peter asks when he sees you both staring at each other,

You clench your jaw when you feel anger rising in your chest when you remember exactly what he did back in Italy and killing the one person you hoped to be safe.

"Give me five minutes," You say and start to walk towards the door,

"Y/n," Stephen says as he grabs you by your arm,

"I'll be fine," You tell him and continue walking,

Opening the door and entering you see Rico's eyes landing on you with a smirk playing on his face. Instead of feeling fear, or nervousness you felt pure rage and hate towards him. It was taking everything inside of you to not punch and kick his smirking face.

"Patch that hand Ross, give me five," You say not breaking your eyes away from the man tied to the chair in front of you,

Ross doesn't move from where he's standing, you then turn to him and give him a stern look. Looking at Rico and then at you he starts to slowly walk away. "Five minutes," He says and leaves the room,

Following him until the door shuts behind him, your eyes then fall to a small table with all kinds of tools. You stare at them with furrowed brows, thinking to yourself if Ross was trying to kill this man or just trying to scare him.

Following your gaze and smirking when he sees the tools as well Rico speaks, "Don't worry, you haven't missed the show," His deep accent makes its way into the room, making you have more annoyance towards him,

You look back to him and see how his cuts are worse up close and not through a window. Ripped lip, huge gash on his left eyebrow, swollen eye and possibly a broken nose. You then see how he smirks when he sees you checking out his wounds, rolling your eyes you speak out.

"You killed her," Is all you say making him give a chuckle and then give a sarcastic sigh,

"She shouldn't have been there," You had to look away when he said that, you felt the anger inside of you only getting stronger and harder for you to control,

As you were turning around to face the wall you hear Rico speaking once again in his deep accent, "It wasn't my fault, I didn't start the fight,"

Turning around to face him, he sees how much hatred is written on your face by the way you stare at him. Brows tightly knitted together and is able to hear a faint inhale when you part your lips, he knows your only getting worst with your anger but doesn't seem to care about it.

"Did you seriously just say that?," You say with the most shocking tone, "I saw you when smashing that glass on the man,"

"You saw what you needed to see," He says with a boring expression making you get confused by his reply,

"What are you talking about?,"

"Who was eager to take me and my little brother in? Who was so desperate for us both?," He asks,

Usually it wouldn't be a problem for you to remember things, but right now at this exact moment you couldn't seem to remember a thing. You couldn't remember who he was referring to but had a name at the back of your head, only problem was you couldn't tell what that persons name was.

Noticing your struggle he continues with a evil smile, loving how he is seeing you struggle to figure out something so simple.

"Who has the badges and the nervy ego?," He says with a annoying proud smirk on his face,

Dropping your eyes from his and looking down at the ground when little things start to go back into place. Everything was making sense now, the way he was acting, desperate, and very eager to get the job perfectly done. Too perfect if anybody asks, he has always had that thing where he always likes to show off so he can get all the credit. 

Feeling anger once again invading your whole body you start to clench your jaw, hard enough that you might actually crack your teeth. From the other side of the window Stephen was hearing everything, he then started to notice the way your mood drastically changed. He actually for once, throughout his whole months of being a Sorcerer he has actually felt fear. Not fear when you are scared of someone, but fear when you are scared For someone and that someone he was feeling towards was you.

He has never seen you this angry, has never seen this side of you that only shows up whenever Tony decides to appear and make unnecessary comments. 

Bringing your burning eyes up from the floor you stare back at Rico, you stare at him hard and cold making him slightly dropping his smirk from his face but quickly brings it back.

"Ah, is it starting to click?," He asks with a annoying smile,

From beside you, you hear Tony's voice coming in the room, "Wow, he still hasn't changed,"

Breathing heavily through your nose you quickly storm out of the small room, not caring at the moment when you opened the door it made heavy impact with the window and leaving a small crack on it. As you were walking down the hall you could hear Rico laughing evilly; which made you more pissed.

"Y/n!," You hear Stephen and Peter's voice but ignore them when you keep walking and make your way towards Ross who was facing away from you,

When he turns around he was only met by you forcefully shoving him back towards the wall, making him groan when his back roughly collided with the wall. 

"Whoa whoa, what the hell!?," He says while putting his hands in a surrender motion,

"For three months you bitched and complained about me becoming the leader, and now that I am you want to disobey orders?!! What kind of bullshit is that Ross?!," You all but scream in his face not caring that you are making a scene around the whole room,

Bruce, Stephen, and Peter look at you with shocked expressions. Neither of them daring to try and calm you down, fearing they'll just get roughly shoved away or maybe even punched in the face. While staring darkly at Ross, Quill and Rocket had walked in the room both arguing once again but quickly stood silently when they heard you yelling.

Ross' eyes quickly turn from confusion to knowing what exactly got you raging hot. He honestly knew you were going to find out sooner or later, but was actually hoping it would be later.

"I saw an opening and I took my shot," He hisses back at you, 

"Yeah congratulations, you also took lives," You had gotten closer to him, making him know how extremely furious you are at the moment,

You see it in his eyes when he felt your raging mood, you saw how they were actually starting to be filled with guilt for his stupidity. You were burning imaginary holes on his face, but a voice breaks your stare.

"Alright ladies, that's enough," Turning around you see Fury coming though a door with Hills behind him, "Whatever he did was wrong, now I'm trying to get the government on your side Y/n so cool down," He says once again while looking at you with a pleading but stern eye,

You breathe in heavily through your nose and look back at Ross with the most deadly cold look, but then you feel a hand on your arm and start to feel it pulling you away. You saw it was Peter who was pulling at your hand, he looked at you with a scared look but you soften up and calmed down as you moved away from Ross and between Bruce and Stephen. 

Stephen puts his hand on your back for comfort and looks at you with the same expression as Peter, you nod your head at him to let him know you were fine. Even if you weren't inside when you still feel the anger riding in your veins, you still managed to calm down.

"Now, we need to figure out how to make this guy talk. He hasn't said a word since he got here," Fury starts to say as he leans on a chair and looks around at the faces but his gaze land on yours, 

"Really? Thought he was wearing makeup the whole time," Stephen adds sarcastically causing Fury to look at him with his stare, but of course Stephen is not that easy to be scared off and only looks at him back with his own stare,

"He only makes stupid remarks. He really likes pain," Ross speaks out as he places an ice pack on his hand,

"Well we need him to spill where he has his stash, other wise we have nothing," Fury sighs heavily and seems frustrated that Ross hasn't made any progress,

As if on cue, a wild yet crazy thought came to your mind. It wasn't a good idea but what other choice was there? There wasn't enough time for thinking, and right now the only option you have is something you weren't proud of. 

While being lost in your own head and thinking about your plan, you had completely tuned out everyone in the room. You didn't listen to them arguing with one another, or listen when they started thinking of ways to make Rico talk and not even listening when Peter was trying to calm down everyone, especially Stephen who was getting annoyed and frustrated with everyone's voice.

"We'll do what we have to do to make him talk. No matter how bad of an idea it is," You finally speak causing every pair of eye land on you,

They looked at you confused, not understanding what you were trying to say. You didn't feel like explaining because if you did then it would only make you feel worse for even thinking about it. Bruce on the other hand understood right away by the way he was looking at you, fear and worry were filled in his eyes. You couldn't meet his gaze so instead you kept them on the table in front of you.

"Torture? Were torturing now?," Bruce says with a disappointing tone,

Then deep down you know Stephen was staring at you with the same expression as Bruce, from the corner of your eyes you can see how he clenches his jaw and only tightens his brows together.

"I'm good at that," Rocket raises his hand proudly not even thinking about it or not even caring if it makes him sound psycho,

"No stop!," Bruce raises his voice at Rocket and continues, "We're not torturing anybody. Look I know this guy deserves it hell! He should suffer from what he's done but Y/n.... this is too crazy!," 

After a while you finally bring your eyes from the table and stare at Bruce. Even if you thought he was right, you still knew it was the only way to get him to speak.

"Bruce there's no other way, if he's not speaking now with all the blows Ross has been giving him then what makes you think he'll speak if we ask him nicely?," You we're slowly getting annoyed and frustrated with Bruce,

As much as you loved him and cared for him there are times where he doesn't want a plan that has to do with violence, you didn't know why if all his life is only full with violence.

"Besides we won't be here when it happens, Rocket will do all the work," 

"What about me? I'm almost cracking him," Ross asks with furrowed brows,

"The only thing your cracking is your hand. How about you save your strength for something more useful for you to break," You coldly respond to him,

Clenching his jaw at your comment, he gets up from his seat and straightens his chest as he looks at you with a stern look, "You can't hold that against me forever," 

You look at him hard and dark before speaking in a harsh tone, "Watch me,"

"Look even if we do this, we can't keep him here. They'll find him and only make another fight," Quill finally joins breaking your intense staring with Ross,

"Which is why we'll do it in the air, we'll just turn the bird invisible," Fury responds, ever since you had said your idea he was all in. He didn't care what it was just as long as it makes Rico to talk and get all the information of his armory storage,

As Fury was going over the plan and saying who would be in charge of babysitting while one had to take a break, you feel Stephens hand going on your back and feel him leaning in until he was near your ear and whispered softly so only you can hear.

"I have to go," You look at him from where you were standing and met his eyes, you nod your head at him,

Then without thinking nor caring he leans in and places a passionate kiss on your forehead. You feel heat rising in your cheeks and hide your face in his chest as you give out a small chuckle, you loved how he didn't care if you two were out in public or at work. Everyone who was not staring at Fury most likely saw what happened, which you could now careless.

You look up at him and saw how he was staring at you with a huge smirk, you lightly punch him on his stomach which he only laughed at and turned around. Once he made his portal and was about to step in, Fury called out to him.

"Strange where you off to?,"

"Have a confrontation with some people back at the Sanctum," Stephen says,

"Sounds interesting. Any way I can get that in English?," Fury asks which makes you chuckle,

Before Stephen is able to answer his question Peter beats him to the line.

"He has a wizard meeting," Peter says loudly and looks at Stephen with the biggest proudest smile ever, You smile at his nickname but Stephen only rolls his eyes,

"Alright, make sure you come back once your done. We could really use you," Fury says while placing some folders on the table,

Instead of Stephen answering he nods his head and turns to walk away before looking at you and smiled, you smile back at him.

"I'll see you later," He says to you, nodding your head at him with a smile he finally disappears along with his portal,

Once he had left Fury went back to explaining the plan. You once again tuned everyone out and being lost in your thoughts. You started to think about how angry you had gotten, how much hatred was running through your veins and not being able to think straight. It actually scared you, it has been years since you've last had that power of rage. 

Last time you remember feeling that anger was when you had a huge fight with Tony. Tony once came stumbling in your home at almost three in the morning looking half dead and half alive. He had a huge gash on the side of his stomach with blood running down his side, you quickly ran towards him and held him up with all your force to stop him from falling. You were full of rage with him because Pepper had called you saying they had a fight but he took off without saying a word. Then, here he comes after a couple of hours almost dead. 

Once you had patched him up and let him rest on your couch you sat down on the coffee table in front of him. You weren't able to sleep knowing Tony was out there probably flying around the city to cool down, but now you are definitely not gonna be able to sleep knowing he's injured and not capable to be alone when he wakes up. As soon as he did wake up, you all but screamed at him not really caring if he's tired or annoyed at the moment, you just lashed out on him.

"Alright, That's that." Fury's voice makes you come back from your thoughts,

Everyone nodded their heads including you even if you didn't know what they were agreeing on, you decided to ask Bruce later on but right now you needed to be alone. As you were getting up from the chair you were sitting at. Which you didn't know when you had sat down, but as you were walking away Fury calls you back.

"We have some new information of the younger Orlov for you. Check it around try and see if you could find something for us that'll help with the mission," You nod your head and grab the manila folder from the table and turn around to head to Tony's office,

Yes, you still called it Tony's, and you were going to keep calling it his until the end of time. Even if his stuff isn't there anymore it will still be considered his office, and nobody will dare try and take off his name tag from the door as long as your there.

No one.

********  
Running a hand down your face and pinching the bridge of your nose when you feel a slight headache approaching. You were currently standing in Tony's office, looking at the wall in front of you with all kinds of pictures and pieces of string going from corner to corner. Couple of hours had past since the meeting with Fury, and now you were feeling frustrated when you couldn't find anything from Luka. Your eyes darted from picture to picture, monitor to monitor, and back to more reading. 

Your head was pounding from so much reading, and looking at a bright screen for too long. You sit down on your chair with a heavy sigh and place your head on your hand while the other one was moving papers around. Luka was pretty hard to crack and gather any dirt from him, the only thing you had found out was him retiring from his job and staying low somewhere in the Bahamas. Which explains why Fury went for a "vacation" he was there to observe Luka and see if he was there for some kind of deal or for any target he'd want to kill.

With a groan you get back up with a piece of information and walk back to the wall, you grab another push pin and place the information near a picture of Luka. You scratch your head and take a step back to observe the art on your wall to try and see if anything will help. As you were staring at your work you hear a small knock and the sound of a creaking door being slowly opened.

Turning around you see Peter in the doorway with his backpack on one shoulder and a shy smile on his face.

"Mind if I join you?," He asks with a nervous tone but still had his smile plastered on his face,

"Of course Pete, come in." You tell him with a smile and look back to the wall when he smiles and quickly but quietly makes his way to your desk,

Soon silence fills the room, only the sound of papers being moved, Peter roughly erasing something, or him tapping his pencil on the desk is heard. Then you walk back to the desk to look for more useful information but a piece of paper sticking out from Peters folder catches your attention and you stop your movements to try and get a better look.

"What's that?," You ask,

He looks up at you and follows your gaze until they land on his folder, "Nothing," He says and tries to hide it back inside,

"Is that a map for London?," 

Hesitating to answer he keeps his eyes on his paper when he finally speaks, "Maybe," 

"Why do you need a map for?," You ask and go back to your papers,

"Maybe so I won't get lost," He says still looking down to avoid your eyes that are now looking at him with furrowed brows,

"Lost? Who says your going?," You tell him but wince when you feel it came out a bit too harsh,

He looks up to meet your eyes, he stares at you with no emotion but still had his voice shaky when he speaks.

"It's for school,"

"Is that supposed to convince me?," You mentally slap yourself for sounding like an ass, you don't know why your acting like this with him, you didn't even have the right because he wasn't your blood but for some reason you couldn't stop,

"I wasn't aware it had to," Peter hisses back with attitude but widens his eyes by the way he spoke to you,

Your eyes harden and voice raised a little higher when you commented back, "Of course it has to! Did you forget I'm also your other guardian?,"

Peter drops his eyes to the table and fiddles with the zipper of his backpack. He couldn't meet your eyes because he knew you were getting angry, but he also couldn't because he was also getting annoyed as well with anger rising slowly in his veins.

"Aunt May already signed it," He says while staring hard at his backpack,

"Doesn't matter. Your not going,"

"It's mandatory! I can't just stay," This time he looked up to meet your eyes and heard how his voice stopped shaking and was now strong and bold,

"You can and you will!," You his back and start to walk away but was stopped by him raising his voice once again,

"No! You said it yourself. I'm old enough to make my own choices!," 

"I meant when your eighteen. Your still a minor," You told him with the most hard and cold tone,

He breathes heavily through his nose and stares at you with hard eyes, not blinking once and looks like he won't until you agree.

"I can take care of myself," He says,

"Peter..-,"

"I've been! Even before I met you," You closed your eyes and tried to even your breathing, you knew he was right. You knew he could take care of himself but something inside you was being way over protective,

You stood quiet and didn't notice Peter calming down as well, you brought your eyes to his faces when you hear him sighing loudly and long. He had his eyes closed but opened them, they instantly locked with yours. As he spoke his voice was no longer quivering or hard, it was his normal voice with a small hint of tiredness.

"I'll activate the tracker again, then like that you will have eyes on me all the time," You were still not liking the idea of him going alone and being thousands of miles away from you and your protection,

But he was right, everything he was saying was all right. About him being old enough and mature enough to make his own choices, as well with taking care of himself. Deep down you knew why you didn't want him to go, you didn't want to say it out loud because it would convince you more about letting Peter go.

With a sigh and letting a hand go down your face you speak again, "You will have it on 24/7, you hear,"

"I promise," He says while nodding his rapidly and having a small smile slowly appearing,

Taking a deep breath to try and calm yourself from changing your mind, you speak again when you feel your heart slowing down.

"When do you leave?,"

"I'm two weeks," He hesitates but when he speaks you could of hardly hear him but managed to catch what he said,

"So you were going to leave without letting me know?," You say with a small offended tone,

"I..- I was going to tell you when I was already in the plane," 

Peter was expecting you to get angry again, scream at him or even change your mind. But only getting shocked when he sees you smiling and quietly chuckling to yourself, he couldn't help but have a smile plastered on his face as well. Looking at you smiling makes him feel better and happy to know you aren't mad at him anymore.

"Smart plan Pete," You tell him when you stopped laughing and pat him on his shoulder,

He continues to smile at you until you face away from him and turning back to the wall. For the first time since he had walked in, he only notices now how much pictures and used strings are covering the wall, making it look into a Picasso art. He sees how you mainly used red strings that were placed in all kinds of corners on the wall, and only one small piece of green string going from Luka's photo to a medium white sheet of paper.

"Any luck?," He asks while scanning the wall from behind you,

"Not much,"

"Are you going to continue?,"

Sighing heavily and dropping a marker on the table you speak again, "Nah, I'll continue when my brain is refreshed,"

"How does food sound?," You ask when you realize your stomach growling,

"Sounds like a good idea," Peter says with a smile and starts to walk towards the door with you behind,

"Should we invite Stephen?," He asks while the both of you were walking down the hall,

"I don't know if he's still busy, how about another time?," You say,

It wasn't a lie, you honestly didn't know if he was still occupied with his work or Fury. As much as you would like him to join, you didn't want him to leave work just to spend time with you and Peter. For you, you thought keeping the universe safe comes before you, you never told that to Stephen since you know what he would say. 

"Okay," Is all Peter says and walks out the door and into your car,

Going for food and taking a break from work is something you needed right now. Your head was pounding and felt like it was going to explode anytime if you don't get away or get food into your system. As you were driving you would constantly think about Rico and Luka, but tried your best to not think about anything at all. Not even the fact that Tony is sitting in the backseat and staring at you through the mirror.

You quickly brought your eyes on the road and tried to make him disappear by not thinking about him. You tried listening to the music or tried listening to Peter's ranting about school or him doing something funny with Ned or just being very shy when he talks about a girl from school. Nothing would work because every time you look at the mirror you would still see him there, but this time he wasn't looking at you. He was staring at Peter with the saddest smile and listening to the kid talking excitedly about god knows what now.

It broke your heart when you saw him, you could literally hear your own heart being shattered in your ears, more than it is already. It hurt to see him smiling at Peter and not being able to be there physically to show Peter his smile and letting him know he was there.

Secretly and unnoticeable you wipe a tear away that managed to slip down. It was taking everything in your power to not make the car swerve to the side and down the hill, But you stopped thinking so negative because you remembered you weren't alone in the car. If you were alone, then you wouldn't have thought twice about doing it. Which scared you because for a long time now, you have thought about ending it, not caring if life mattered anymore because you couldn't stand seeing Tony in front of you and talking to you without him actually being there.

Then, you would remember about Stephen and Peter. Remembering why exactly you should keep fighting and always be strong through all the wars that are going out in public and inside your head. You remember those three words that Stephen finally said to you, and that's all you need to feel better and not suicidal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned! Next chapter being written! ⚠️⚠️
> 
> Also check out my Wattpad posted a new Fic! 
> 
> Wattpad: ItsStrange


	12. The Family Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/n finds out more about her families past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Blood and Suicide is mentioned⚠️
> 
> May be a trigger so please don’t read of its too much for you ⚠️

Two weeks has passed and you have been trapped in Tony's office with papers, cans of energy drinks, and different kinds of colored strings laying on the floor and table. The office was a mess, but you could hardly care less since you are too busy trying to find information from Luka. Meanwhile you were busy doing that, Rocket has been torturing Rico nonstop. Unlike you he actually managed to make progress, with a blowtorch burning his skin— he revealed some new things you all didn't know.

'Great, another thing to add on the list' you thought to yourself. 

You were already stressing out about Luka and now you have to find out where exactly is the main storage unit. There would be times where Bruce, or Peter would stop by and try to give you a hand, Stephen on the other hand was extremely busy with protecting the Sanctum, training new students, or doing side jobs with the Avengers and taking out Rico's territory where he makes his deals. With Rico's useful information you did not have any trouble finding these small warehouses, only problem was Rico was not spilling the beans of the nuclear weapons he has hidden. You had to find those fast since they are being sold from anonymous dealers and maybe even building something bigger.

Sighing heavily in Tony's chair you push, and move any papers out of the way as you set your laptop in front of you. Going on the search bar, you type in Luka's name and went from there. Even if you already knew some things, you still wanted to find out anything that you have missed. Your eyes would scan one article and then jump to another page, then another article and so forth. Then you click on a link that transferred you to a video, clicking on the small arrow you watch as the screen goes black and then showing a grown but young man in front of the screen. Looked like he was in his early 20s.

Your eyes locked with his, and then having the feeling that you have seen this man before. His piercing green eyes, high firm cheekbones, and hair nicely combed to the side. You furrowed your brows but let a small gasp when you finally remember who this man was, you have never seen any pictures of him when he was younger, or even knew how exactly he looked as a youngster so seeing him there made your heart beat faster then running a marathon.

"D-Dad?," You say almost in a whisper,

You knew it was him by his deep handsome voice, firm shoulders, and his small scar in his left eyebrow. You couldn't believe you were seeing your father in his early years and talking about something, possibly his cartel. It was a documentary, probably about fifty-five to possibly an hour long of him talking, showing you around his drug lordship or him doing god knows what. As he started to walk around his hall and the cameraman following him you get up from your chair and quickly close the door, not wanting anybody to hear or know about your fathers past.

As you walk back to your laptop you see how he is showing the camera a big bag that's probably filled with coke, and then happily showing his view of his balcony. Your brows shoot up in surprise when you see lines of crates, filled with pure of coke and most likely heavier drugs. You continued to watch the film, and only being more shocked throughout it. 

Time quickly passed and you were still hearing your fathers voice, smiling at times when you see him smiling. Not because of what he was proud of, but because ever since you knew him you would always love it when he smiles. You were in love with his smile, dimples popping out just like yours and loving the way he laughs. As your fathers voice was still being heard on the screen, you were busy trying to fix Rockets suit that had somehow got ruined during a mission. How? You would never know. There was pieces of metal all over the suit— his armor ruined and almost falling, luckily you had brought a tool kit in Tony's office just in case you ever needed it.

"Let me tell you something," Your fathers voice comes in the room, you listen as you were trying to fix Rockets metal plates and removing any bullets that had made their way in through the armor,

"If you ever come across any other drug dealer, you best believe that will be the last time you ever meet each other. For your sake, and that other assholes sake," 

"Got a point there Dad," You say to yourself and agreeing with your father,

Couple more hours had passed and now you were back to finding more information on Luka, as well with the warehouse from Rico. You didn't know how long it has been since you left the office, only time you remember leaving was to grab something to munch on, or using the bathroom. You had somewhat found little things from Luka, like where he mainly goes to eat, where he runs, and surprisingly found one of his safe houses in Rio. 

"Do you ever feel like a failure when you don't achieve your goal?," You hear the reporter asking your father and look towards the wall where he was staring intensely at the man,

You had switched the documentary to a hologram near the wall since you were using your laptop for Rico's warehouses, and the desktop for Luka. 

"No, I use that for motivation and to become more smarter for the upcoming challenges," You father says,

"Any inspirational tips?," The reporter asks which causes you to bring you attention back to the screen and locked your eyes with your fathers green ones,

"If you can't own it, then your doing something wrong," You say with your father and turn around to the wall to add new information for Luka's side, 

"I see you kept your motivation Dad," You tell yourself with annoyance,

For your whole life that you grew up with him, he would always say his saying for any little thing. When you failed a test, when you didn't win a fighting tournament, or any time he thinks it was a perfect time. You knew his dumb speech by heart, and would mock him every time he would say it to you. He would get mad and annoyed whenever you wouldn't take him seriously, he also hated the fact that you would give him attitude and not respect him like you should have.

Walking back to your chair and sitting down with a groan when you feel exhaustion washing over you, and feeling your eyes getting heavy from working all day. You were rubbing your eyes to relieve its tiredness away, but then a small squeal brings your attention to the hologram near you. You see your father happily picking up this small little girl and giving her kisses all over her face making the small child laugh and showing her deep dimples on her face. You stared at the hologram with wide eyes, seeing yourself hugging and kissing your father with love. Love that you once felt towards the man.

Feeling a sad smile on your face when you seem happy around him and seeing your father smiling wide whenever he stares into your big E/C eyes. You never actually thought you were that close with him, considering all the times you would argue or have horrible fights that would cause you to run away from home for at least two or three days. You would disappear, until one of his annoying puppets found you and took you back home.

After staring at the screen of you and your father happily kissing and hugging each other, you feel your smile starting to fade when a shorter man enters the room and instantly recognizing his thick Russian accent.

"Mr. Y/F/L/N, it's great to see you again brother," Mr. Orlov says to your father,

'They were... friends?' You thought to yourself and turned your chair to properly face the hologram. Of course they were friends, both of them were known for being a Drug Lord, but you never thought they be close to each other. 

You felt your heart starting to go faster when you saw how close indeed they were. They were partners in crime, seeing how they were both agreeing to attack a rival gang that had wrongly crossed them and their men. You couldn't believe it, your father was best friends with the most wanted drug lord in Russia and never told you about it. Obviously growing up you were starting to understand what exactly your father did for work, you remember begging him to quit his old life and start a new one for his sake an yours. He never listened, which explains why you started to give him attitude and started to lose respect for him. Which also explains how you met Luka, if your father was besties with Sir Orlov then that would explain how you two had met.

As you were staring at the two men who were talking business, you couldn't help but bring your eyes to the wall in front of them. The red marks looked oddly familiar, pausing the film and with your hands you zoom in making the hologram spread in the office. You zoom until the map was the only thing in the office, since the video was taken years ago it had pretty bad quality which didn't help you to read the markings on the map.

"Josh," You say out loud to your AI, you build him for yourself not that long ago, seeing how Friday was mostly with Pepper and Peter having Karen for his own you decided to make one for you. 

Unlike Karen, Jarvis, or Friday. Josh only stayed in Tony's office, you would mostly do work there instead of your home and did not feel like having another guard dog at your house, so you only programmed him to stay at the office. There would be times if you needed something from the office— you would call Josh by your phone or through your small nanotech bracelet, and he would gladly help by giving you would you need.

"Yes Boss?," A deep British voice fills the room,

"Can you higher the quality please?," You ask him,

Without hesitation you can slowly start to see the blurry map turn into a clearer picture. Seeing the red marks better you quickly move papers on your desk to find that one sheet. Finally finding it through the amounts of other papers scattered, you line it in the air and try to match it with the map. You notice they have the same markings in the same spot.

"They match," You softly say to yourself as you keep looking back and forth to the hologram map and the sheet of paper in your hands,

You bring your eyes back to the map and notice how there is a lot more red marks above. Unfortunately since the camera was angled down it cut off the rest of the map, and only being able to see two small red sticks.

"Josh, try to make the map fit,"

"Unfortunately I can't Boss, but I can try and erase the parts that are missing and modify it to its original frame," Josh says,

You bring the paper down and see how the maps cut off parts are being shown, the more it's being erased and fixed the more red marks are appearing on the map. After finishing and framing the whole map, you hear yourself gasping loudly and staring at the hologram in pure shock. The whole map was covered. From corner to corner, and bottom to top. You tightly pinch the bridge of your nose when you feel everything getting more stressful and more frustrating, but on the bright side you did just find out almost every warehouse from the Orlov gang and having technology to see if they are still being used.

As you were rubbing your eyes and trying to take a breather, you randomly hear your laptop playing the exact same video. With furrowed brows you bring your eyes to the screen and see both men huddled and speaking quietly to each other, but being the annoying and nosey cameraman he is able to catch what the two men are talking about. You bring your fingers on the small mouse of your laptop and drag the small arrow to pause the video, but before you can pause it Orlov stops you.

"This is our future, Our Time! Were this close to finishing this building, once it's done we have the power to take our work and make better deals than simple drugs," Orlov tells your father,

From what you can tell, your father doesn't seem too pleased with Luka's father. Doesn't seem to like his idea or plan for their future. 

"Listen, brother. With your invention and smart knowledge we can build better things. Weapons that will help us take over the world, and Rico is excited to be apart of us," That got your father to stare at him with hard and cold eyes, you see how he takes a step back from Orlov's hold and points a long skinny finger at him,

"I told you to not involve him, I also said no weapons! It's not right!," 

"Brother, What were doing right now is worst than building weapons. Besides you've held a gun and killed a man with your bare hands why is this any different?," Orlov looks at him with stern eyes but still kept his smile plastered on his face,

"Your talking about building weapons to mess with peoples heads!," 

"I'm talking about getting money,"

"The millions we are making is not enough for you?!," Your father harshly reply's which makes Orlov look like he's losing his patience with your father and seeing how he takes a threatening step towards him,

"Are you questioning me boy?!," Yes, you heard that correctly. He did call your father a boy, Orlov was older than him by a couple years and knew more about him,

You could see how they are losing each other's trust, seeing how your father is looking at the older man with pure disgust and a hint of fear. Even Luka's father was insane, which definitely explains Rico and his psychotic moments. Then little by little things started to make sense to you. Your father had invented something that probably affected peoples memory, and you remember how Luka had something similar. All those memories you were having was caused by that one small gadget, and all those memories were probably taken away from your father to keep you safe. Safe from what exactly? You didn't know. 

As you were being lost in your thoughts the video was still playing in front of you. But the sound of knocking broke your thoughts, quickly removing the hologram with a move of your hand and harshly slamming your laptop close when you see the door being opened.   
You see Stephen at the door with furrowed brows when he catches you awkwardly smiling and sitting with a straight posture. 

Something you never do because of how much it feels weird to do.

"Did I interrupt something?," He asks as he points to your laptop,

"Uh.. no, ..I uhh... No you didn't," You forcefully let a smile out but mentally cursing to yourself for making everything so suspicious,

Stephen raises an eyebrow at you, but you kept your smile and not give in to his intense eyes. Making yourself strong to not crack easily under his burning stare and telling him the truth. You never told anyone about your father. Not even Tony. All he knew was your father being a retired Veteran and a very wealthy man, and nothing more.

"Umm okay..?," Stephen says but continues, "I just came to kidnap you for a couple of hours," He finishes with a smirk with he sees your smile drop and looking at him with confusion,

"You came to kidnap me?," 

"Yup," Stephen says letting the 'P' pop at the end,

"Can I ask where?,"

He smiles softly at you, which you take as a no. Scoffing at him you lean in your chair as you stare at him.

"I can't be kidnapped right now as much as I want to, but I have a lot to get done," You tell him with a sad and rough sigh,

He continues to smile at you when he speaks again, "I wasn't asking for permission," 

You chuckle and stare at him, "And I. Wasn't either," he stares at you with a smirk and leans on the wall with arms crossed in front of him,

"Well considering your wall, I think you deserve it," He says as he points to your wall,

Pictures, strings, and markings are all over and making it seem like there was no window nor wall. You didn't notice you had gotten a lot of information and went crazy with the strings, the whole wall was literally covered in red strings from corner to corner and bottom to top. It looked like a horrible Picasso art of fame.

"Come on, just you and me," Stephen says as he makes his towards you,

Standing near you, he extends his hand for you to take. You hesitate as your eyes shift from his firm hand to the stack of papers on your desk. Then eventually with a small happy sigh you accept his hand with a smile when you see his appearing on his face. Fingers intertwined together he leads you to the portal outside the office and walking inside to be met with a ocean, you then see a small blanket on the ground with a medium tent above and small lights hanging from above. 

Completely speechless and only able to stare at the beautiful view that's in front, you let a small smile stretch from the side of your mouth and tighten your hold on his hand. He smirks at your reaction, making it seem like he knew how you were going to react. 

"You.. You did all this?," You ask as you bring your eyes to stare into his with adoration,

He smiles at you and turns his body to fully be in front of you and takes both your hands in his before speaking, "I did promise a date,"

You only feel your smile widening and couldn't help yourself when you tightly hugged him and buried your face into his chest. He too wraps his arms around you and places a kiss on top of your head. You raise your head and don't hesitate to attach your lips on his, It was a small peck but full of love. He then leads you both towards the blanket and sit close to each other as you eat whatever he had made and had comfortable conversations while enjoying the sounds of waves crashing by the beach.

Once you both finished eating, the rest of the night was filled with laughter, you both talking about different topics, and small pecks on each other's lips. In your opinion, it felt like one of the best dates you ever had. Stephen next to you; smiling, laughing, hugging and kissing you was all you ever wanted. All you ever wish you could have for the rest of your life, he was the one who made you feel whole again. He was the one who kept you from feeling low, or even thinking about doing your stupid drugs to ease away the pain. He was the one who made you forget that you had pain, that you might be going insane and wanting to end your life. Being around him has completely changed you, and continues to change you every time your with him or even stare into those eyes of his. 

Just staring into those deep galaxies of his feels like nothing bad will happen, or nothing matters at the moment because he has that effect on you. He has this strong leash on you that if it rips one day, you will once again feel broken and feel that empty feeling in your heart. There is times where you still feel that emptiness, but whenever your around him it never shows or feels like it was never there.

Both of you were sitting on the ground and staring out into the dark ocean, only the moon making a reflection on the water. You lean your head on his shoulder and tighten your hold that you have on his waist, while he pulls you closer towards him. You both sit there and listen to waves that peacefully crash on to the shore, and getting the familiar scent of salty wind hitting your faces.

After a while of sitting in the fresh breeze you break the comfortable silence, "Thanks Stephen, I had a great night," you smile when you feel him tighten his hold around you,

"I wish I could've done better you know, with the lights and food-...,"

"Stephen," You say warning him for him trying to bring negativity into his head,

All he does is chuckle and brings you closer to his side. He leans his cheek on top of your head as he stares straight ahead into the dark ocean.

"I'm glad you like it," He says with a smile,

"I don't," You say which makes him drop his smile and looks at you with furrowed brows and almost hurt in his eyes. You laugh at him before continuing, "I love it,"

He lets a small smirk appear on the side of his lips and slowly leans down to connect his lips with yours. Without hesitation you raised your head to meet him half way and gently kiss him back. It was small pecks but then slowly started to escalate when you felt his tongue on the bottom of your lip asking for permission, smiling against his lips you gladly open your mouth and let his warmth dance along yours. 

It was a awkward position to kiss him but he quickly grabbed a hold of your lower back and slowly lowers you on the blanket as he hovers above you. He settles himself between your legs, holds himself above you with a hand on either side of your head. He then let's out a small groan when he moves his hips with yours and getting pure pleasure. 

You feel him angling his mouth towards your neck, being caught off guard and getting chills down your body you instantly move your head to give him more space. He would kiss and suck on your neck earning a low groan coming out from you. He then starts to lower his mouth, but before he can go past your chest you stop him.

"Stephen," You say through heavy breaths and closed eyes when you feel his lips back towards your neck,

"It's okay. It's just us," He says while covering your neck in opened mouth kisses and leaving small marks,

Being too occupied by amounts of papers, getting information from Luka and Stephen being busy with stuff back at the Sanctum. Neither of you had any time for each other, romantically and sexually. You will admit, you missed how he takes care of you, cherishes you in kisses and missing his warmth around you. Everything about him you missed dearly. Its not even about the sex that you miss from him, what you did miss was waking up next to him on a comfortable bed and having a lazy day.

It was never about the sexual desires and pleasured moments he gives you. None of that never mattered to you, your feelings grew stronger and harder each day you were with him and only found out it was full of love towards him. It was pretty scary at first, not knowing if he'd even felt the same way. But after revealing to each other and proving to one another on how you both felt only made your connection with him more strong and making you fall harder for the Sorcerer. 

Feeling a hand slowly going down on your side and grabbing onto your hip, you open your eyes and meet his when he retrieves from your neck. You see how his eyes are blown and only seeing a small speck of his ocean blues. You lock eyes with him when he stares at you with pure love, letting your hand reach towards him and letting your fingers tangling with his beautiful locks. Bringing your other hand to his cheek, you caress it with your thumb as you stare into those eyes that are similar to a galaxy. 

After staring into each other's eyes for what seem like centuries, you slowly bring his head back down and connect each other's lips. Without hesitation he adds his tongue and starts to dance with yours in a slow motion, you then feel one of his hands on your button of your jeans and knowing too well when he undoes it from its place. He then let's his hand slide up your stomach as he pushes the hem of your long sleeve upwards and feeling the icy air hitting your bare stomach but then feel his warm hands exploring your soft skin.

Breaking the kiss, but letting his lips travel on your cheek, down your neck, chest and back down where he pushed up your shirt. You clench your stomach whenever he places feathery kisses on your bare stomach, then letting small giggles escape when it starts to tickle you, earning a wide grin from him. He continues to torture you with his pecks, but teases you more when he returns to your neck and quickly finding your sensitive spot and earning a groan from you.

He abuses your neck by kissing, licking, and sucking. Leaving red marks that quickly start to form in a light purple color. As he was pleasuring you, the sound of a phone ringing interrupts the heated moment, but that doesn't stop Stephen from kissing your neck. 

"Stephen... Mmm, Stephen the phone," You managed to say through heavy breaths,

He ignores you and continues lavishing his mouth onto your pulse and sucking hard, enough to form another Mark. You try to push him off but would only get an annoyed groan and him putting more of his wait on top of you and thrusting his hips with yours, earning a gasp and groan out of you when you feel his harden erection through the thick layer.

"Steph, come on the phone," You tell him as you try to gently pull him off of you,

As much as you didn't want to, you still had to answer the phone. What if it was an emergency, or what if it was Wong trying to reach him for something important or maybe even Peter.

With a annoyed groan he retrieves from your neck and glares at you with hooded eyes as he reaches in his pocket to take out the annoying gadget. All you do is chuckle when you see him pout, but quickly drop your smile when you see him quickly getting up from you and staying seated on his knees as he stares at the bright screen in pure shock.

"What's wrong?," You ask while sitting up with him,

"It's Quill," He says, "we need to go,"

Without hesitation you get up with the help of his hand and fix each other's clothes before walking inside the portal he had created. As you both were walking down the hall and getting closer, you see staffs, and Ross' men running around in a hurry.

Getting more worried and curious you walk faster, with Stephen right behind you. Turning the corner you see Sam pacing back and forth with his head down. Then you stop in your tracks when you see Mantis sitting down on a chair with her head down as well, and Drax standing near her with a serious look instead of his historical expressions.

They all looked up when they felt your presence and seeing how they let out a sigh of relief, slowly walking towards them with brows furrowed and confusion settling in but getting mixed with more worry when you start to have horrible thoughts about Quill. Did something happen? Is he okay?... is he dead? So many questions were filling your head but try to not overthink things.

You were about to ask what happened but Bruce's voice is heard in the room. Turning around you see him walking out of a room with bloody gloves as well with his shirt being covered. You felt your heart stop at the sight of so much blood, you felt like fainting at the moment but thankfully Stephen was beside you and had a arm around your waist to keep you from falling.

"What happened?," You say as you make your way towards him and of course Stephen was right behind you,

"He's Okay now, just a little banged up," Bruce's says calmly which makes you relax a bit,

"Where's Rocket?," You ask once you noticed he wasn't with his other Guardians,

"He's in the room," Bruce says, "Come on," He waves his for you to follow him,

Taking Stephens hand and intertwining your fingers together, you look at him which he then smiles at you softly and making you feel more calmer and more relaxed when you know everything is okay. You both follow Bruce hand in hand, walking behind him until he turns a corner and opens a glass door. As soon as you enter the room you see Quill peacefully sleeping on the bed with a huge bandage covering his left side and Rocket drawing on his face with a black marker and chuckling lowly to not wake him up.

You roll your eyes at the sight of them, but can't help to let out a small smile when Rocket still manages to prank Quill even if he's injured at the moment.

"You two never stop do you," You say from where your standing,

"I'm just getting my payback," Rocket says with a smirk,

Walking more towards the small room you stand near Bruce while Stephen leans against the doorway, and crosses his arms in front of him as he quietly stands there.

"So what happened?," You ask when your eyes once again land on Quills covered body,

"Yeah, you weren't clear about that," Bruce joins you as he takes off his dirty gloves and washes his hands,

With a heavy, yet loud sigh Rocket jumps off the bed and stands on his chair that's near Quill. He plays with the marker while he explains what had happened.

"This idiot got too close to Freak Show, and got him good," Rocket says like if he knew it was going to happen,

"He wasn't tied up?," Bruce asks,

"He was. But we didn't know he had managed to get free since we were busy arguing,"

You roll your eyes at him before replying back, "Of course you two would be arguing,"

"Mmhmm," Rocket hums while cleaning his gun that he had took out from under the bed,

"It has to stop," You tell him with a serious tone,

"Tell fatty that," 

"I'm saying it to both of you, you guys can't be arguing about dumb stuff while on missions. I hope you two take this day as a lesson," You tell him,

With a scoff Rocket continues to do whatever it is he does to his gun and speaks out, "Yeah well, it's not my fault he was being all stubborn,"

You chuckle at him, you then bring your eyes back to Quill. His brows were furrowed tightly, one hand was clenching the bed sheet while the other one was laying on his stomach with needles coming out. He looked like he was trying to sleep but couldn't since there was loud voices in the room, but it was mostly the pain he must be feeling at the moment.

"Speaking of Stubborn, what's up with Ross' men?," You ask when you remember them running around the hall with their rifles in their hands,

"Not sure, when we got here the whole place was hectic," Rocket says while cleaning his barrel,

Letting a frustrated sigh you look over to Bruce, hoping he knows what's going on, "Bruce?,"

"I was down at the lab until they came," He says pointing to Rocket with his pen,

Well that's just great. You thought to yourself,

"I'll check it out," Stephen finally speaks,

You turn to him and give him a thankful smile which he returns and then walks away to figure out what the hell is happening with Ross. As you bring your eyes back to Quill you see how Rocket was once again jumping from the bed with a smirk on his face, you roll your eyes and lean on the wall beside you and cross your arms in front of you as you observe Quills sleeping form.

You were hoping Quill would heal quickly and was hoping his injury wasn't as bad as you thought. You hoped it was a small stab that would heal in less than two weeks, but unfortunately due to all the bandages wrapped all over his left side, bloody towels on the floor and sink you knew it was bad.

"So, it looked like you had a fun night," Rocket says breaking you out of your thoughts and props his little feet on the bed,

You furrowed your brows at him, not really understanding his meaning but still replied, "Paper work is fun to you?," 

"Well whatever you humans call it these days, it looks like you had a wild one," Feeling more confused your only able to look at him with raised eyebrows, but then you look at Bruce and see how he's avoiding your eyes and see a hint of pink on his cheeks,

Instead of answering, Bruce makes an awkward coughing noise and secretly points to his neck, you furrowed your brows but quickly realizing what he's motioning to. Turning around you look at yourself in the mirror and see how your neck is covered in purple marks, while some look red and fresh. Looking back at them you see how Rocket had a grin on his face while Bruce only had red staining his cheeks.

You awkwardly clear your throat and do your best to cover your neck with your shirt. It didn't work but it covered some which is better than exposing Stephens art that he left on you. As you were trying your best to cover your neck the sounds of alarms are heard, furrowing your brows and feeling worry wash over you.

You turn to the door and then back to Quill who was still out cold on the bed. You didn't want to leave him alone, but you had to figure out what the hell was happening out there. Bruce sees you turning your gaze from the door to the Guardian on the bed, without hesitation he speaks out.

"Both of you go, all stay with him," He says and stands near Quill as he fiddled with his needles,

Nodding your head you walk out with Rocket right behind you. You then feel him jumping on your back and staying there until you both reach the hall where everyone is running everywhere and even seeing the Avengers preparing themselves. You didn't see Stephen anywhere but saw Sam putting on his suit, you ran towards him while Rocket jumped off and went towards his teammates who were standing and waiting for their orders.

"Sam, What's going on?," You ask him while looking around at everybody who were running all over the place, and seeing how they all had a rifle in their hands or speaking loudly in their ear piece,

"Not sure, something about Rico's men finding him and coming here to get him back," 

"They found us?," You ask and feeling anxiety crawling its way in your veins, 

"Looks like it. But we can take 'em," Sam says like if it's normal to get these kinds of things,

Then there's you, feeling anxiety in your chest. Why? Maybe because you were not expecting all this commotion and not expecting to see Quill in a bed with bloody bandages covering his body.

Looking at him with a worried face and trying to make your voice not sound so panic when you speak, "Where's Stephen?,"

"Probably out somewhere," As soon as Sam replies the sound of gun shots are heard and men and women are seen running from corner to corner while some are bring injured men through the doors, "Looks like their here," Sam replies calmly and walks towards Ross,

Following Sam along with the Guardians behind you, you then see Stephen walking behind Ross which makes you feel less worried. By the looks of it Ross was already in a fight due to drips of blood going down his temple and sweat forming on his face, from your opinion he looked like crap.

"Sam I want you and Strange outside, keep them from coming in. Guardians stay with Bruce and keep Quill safe." Ross says everyone nods to his order and walk opposite directions, Stephen follows Sam outside before turning around and giving you comforting smile,

"You. Follow me," You break your eyes from Stephens form as he disappears through the door and turn to Ross who was already walking away,

Being too shocked and confused at the moment you just follow Ross as he leads you both through hallways and many doors until you both enter a room, turning the corner you see Rico chained to a chair with more blood covering his face. You stop in your tracks as you look at the unknown room, it was deep under the base and getting more confused since you've never been there.

Turning at the sound of chains rattling you see Ross undoing them and seeing them land heavily on the ground. He then helps a slightly unconscious Rico up his feet as he removes the rest of the chains around him.

"What are you doing?" You ask with a harsh but panic tone,

"Help me, grab his other arm,"

"For what? So we get can give him over?" 

"Just help me and I'll explain," He says with an annoyed tone, clearly being done with the same bullshit and attitude you've been giving him for the past two weeks,

After hesitating you finally make your way to Rico's left side and lift his arm around your neck as Ross does the same. With careful steps the three of you walkout of the basement, by the time you guys reached the second floor you and Ross were a panting mess. Rico was a lot heavier than he looked, and the stairs did not help at all. While walking up the other flight stairs Rico had stepped wrong and went face first, both you and Ross groaned from annoyance and relief when the weight was off.

Ross goes to pick him up but you stopped him, "Wait, wait... just give it a minute," You tell him with heavy breaths and swallow thickly, nodding his head Ross too sits next to Rico to take a quick breather,

After having a small break you bend down to help Ross pick him up. Grabbing Rico's arm you place it around your neck once again and grab onto his waist for support while Ross held onto his upper back.

"Where the hell are we going," You say harshly when Ross was leading you to another flight of stairs,

"Rooftop,"

"What?!? What the hell Ross!"

Grunting and letting out shallow breaths he replies, "We have to get him up there, it's part of the plan,"

"What is the plan!?," You were really getting annoyed by all the stairs and having to carrying an unconscious man, and getting tired as well with anger rising in your veins when Ross was keeping his little plan to himself,

"We need him to confess,"

"Confess what!?!," You all but scream and ignored Rico's wince when it tingled in his ear,

Finally reaching the door towards the rooftop, Ross leans on it for a quick breath and turns to you and see him sweating like crazy, "He has to confess that's he's okay,"

"How is that going to help with all this?" Opening the door to the rooftop you and Ross struggle to walk with Rico and heavily sit him down near a couple of boxes,

"He has to let them know that he's alive!" Ross yells back as he stretches his sore shoulder,

You hear a faint 'No' coming beside you, turning around you see Rico looking at both of you with a pleading yet scared look in his eyes. Then furrowing your brows at him tightly with what he responds with.

"Kill me,"

"What?," You tell him,

"Kill. Me," He says again between heavy breaths,

"Gladly but not yet, we still need you," Ross replies for you which causes you to get more annoyed by his presence,

"No one is killing anybody," You say towards both men,

"Why are you defending him!?!," 

"I'm not defending him! There's a reason why he doesn't want to be alive and we should figure out why!" You yell at Ross but get interrupted by a loud explosive, both you and Ross turn towards the commotion but quickly react when Rico removes the gun from Ross' hostler,

Letting your reflexes take action you quickly pull yours out and point it at Rico as you stare at him with hard, cold, and somewhat pleading eyes.

"Rico, drop the gun," You tell him as you grip tightly on your weapon,

"You forced me..... You forced me to speak!" Rico yells at you as he lets tears rapidly go down his face and getting mixed with his blood,

"Rico..," You start to slowly walk towards him but stops you by pointing the gun at you, "Don't,"

"Y/n, stand down" Ross says as he tries to grab your shoulder but you shrug him off, 

You slowly lower your gun as you try and calm him down, even if you were swarming with adrenaline you knew you were freaking out and deep down you were most likely panicking that a gun is pointed at you.

As you tried comforting Rico his eyes found their way towards yours and you could see how scared, guilty, and tired they looked. As you guys locked gazes, he started to sob uncontrollably while still having the gun pointed at you. Ross was getting nervous and anxious when he would see his finger trembling near the trigger, you were too busy trying to keep this man from pulling it and getting you killed but from the looks of it he was going to regardless.

"Rico, we can help you" You tell while putting your gun in your hostler and putting your hands in a surrender motion to show him you are telling the truth,

"You can't," His voice cracks as he speaks in his deep Russian accent, "No one can help me!," 

Hearing those words reminded you when you were in a rough patch. You still were, but in baby steps you were getting better and healthier with the help of Stephens presence. You still had nightmares but when you wake up from them Stephen quickly wraps a arm around you and pulls you closer towards his chest while planting a small comforting kiss on your head.

"I'm a failure, I failed Papa," Rico says between loud sobs and loosening his grip on the gun as he can't control the tears from coming out, 

You walk closer to him with Ross right on your heels, you wanted to grab the weapon from him before he kills you or anybody on the roof. He wasn't thinking straight and it was getting you nervous for your safety and Ross'.

"You Americans.... You guys will pay," You see him slowly moving the gun away from you but know to well where he was planing on pointing it next, "You Guys Will pay in Hell!!," 

"Noo!" Both you and Ross say in sync and run towards, but was too late when the sound of the gun goes off and echoing into the sky,

You flinch and stop running as you see Rico's now lifeless body fall heavily to the floor and staining it with the color red. Being too shocked at what just happened you are only able to stare at the body in front of you and taking in quick breathes when you feel it getting quicker.

"For fuck sakes," You hear Ross but hearing it faintly since you went into shock,

You knew it was going to happen, deep down in your chest you knew what he was planning to do with that gun but acted too late. Slowly coming back from shock you rapidly blink and try to even your breathing as you continue to stare at the bloody body on the floor, beside you hear Ross' men speaking on the walkie.

"Boss, were all clear down here,"

"Anyone breathing still?," He asks while bring his eyes towards you and sees how your still staring at the body,

"Negative Sir, just the ones we've captured,"

"Alright hang tight, we'll be down in a sec," 

"Roger," 

Ross walks towards you and sighs heavily as he stares at the body, you knew he was mentally cursing himself for failing his job at keeping the target alive and couldn't help but feel his mood... but maybe worse.

You felt anger, guilt, and scared for not doing your job. The reason why you felt scared was because you were feeling the same way you had felt after Titan. Feeling those emotions that you haven't felt for two months, and getting scared that you might fall back into that category.

"Alright, grab a limb we have to move him,"

You look at him with terrified eyes and back away from him as you see him bending down and flipping Rico onto his back. Which turned out to be a horrible idea since he had his eyes open and his head titled to the side, making his eyes land on yours and locking with them.

"No way," You shake your head, "I am not moving anything," 

"Y/n, we have to move him and I need your help,"

"Get one of your men to help you, I'm not moving him,"

"Your already here mine as well," You shake your head in disgust and start to back away towards the door, "Y/n,"

You bring your eyes to Ross and see his staring at yours with pleading ones. As much as you didn't want to lift a dead body you knew it was wrong to leave him there, it was wrong to leave him lying in his blood. Taking a long breath and gulping hard you slowly walk towards Ross and Rico's lifeless body on the ground.

"Okay, careful with his head. Don't wanna get dirty," Ross says as he struggles to grab his legs together and grunting as you both lift him up,

The whole way while going down the stairs you tried to not make eye contact with his, trying to ignore Rico's lifeless eyes staring at you and feeling more guilty than you are already feeling. This wasn't how he was supposed to die, he wasn't supposed even supposed to die. He was going to be send to maximum prison once you had found out about his storages and every nuclear power plant he had stolen. Now the only place he will be sent to, is a box underground or maybe possibly inside a chimney. Who the hell knows.

Right now all you are caring about is holding down your food that is making its way up your throat, trying to walk faster to drop the bloody body from your hands. Looking down you see his head leaking with blood and staining your grey shirt, at the moment you could care less that it would be a hassle to clean but feeling more guilty and nauseous from having blood all over you. But also seeing his bloody head, eyes wide open brought horrific memories. Memories that kept you awake for almost the rest of your childhood, memories you stored deep, deep in your head and locked away once you became mature and more in control of your mind. Those memories were once again flashing its way in your mind and making you feel tears building up in your eyes and stomach twisting like crazy, but tried shaking you head to forget about them and tried drying your tears that escaped with your shoulder.

No. Nows not the time to think about that. You thought to yourself and let out a loud sigh when you see the double doors. No matter how hard it is going to be to forget about those memories, you knew it wasn't going to be a fun month anymore.


	13. Distraction

With a grunt you and Ross dropped Rico's corpse onto a table. As you were turning around with Ross behind you hear a loud curse and a thud on the floor, bringing your eyes back you see Rico's body laying on top of a disgusted Ross. If it wasn't for a dead body you would honestly be bursting out in laughter, but instead you just made a disgusted face when you saw the blood leaking onto his face and possibly in his mouth.

Bending down to grab ahold of Rico, you lift him up as much as possible to give Ross an opportunity to slide away from him. After doing that he spits and curses more as he wipes his face with his jacket and helps you with the body, once placing him back on the table and making sure it's stable you both make your way towards the rest of the team. The whole way you were quiet, you couldn't speak or think at the moment, everything was zoned out for you and only being lost into your own mind. As you were getting close to the hallway you can hear people arguing and also catch a glimpse of Fury's voice, by the sound of it you can tell he was annoyed and frustrated.

Turning the corner behind Ross you see Bruce, the Guardians, Sam, Fury, Hills, and a couple of other people being treated for their injuries. Who you didn't see at the moment was Stephen, he probably had to make a call or something. All you really wanted at the moment was him, you needed him after what you just witnessed because you feel like you are going to snap at any moment and you would like his safe arms around you when it happens.

"The hell happened to you two?," Fury asks while bringing his gaze at you and Ross,

Looking down at yourself you see your hands were covered in blood, and your shirt being covered as well. You then take a glance at Ross and see he too was covered, only difference was he had more dried blood on his face and less on his clothes and hands. Facing back down at your hands you try and remove the red stain with your thumb but only making it smear, you bring your traumatized eyes towards Fury.

"Rico's dead," You say almost in a whisper and hearing your voice crack as well with feeling the nausea sensation in your stomach,

"What?" Says Bruce as he uncrosses his arms and stands straight as he looks at you both with furrowed brows, 

"He shot himself in the head," Ross says as he goes to a chair and sits with a loud sigh,

Fury then brings his eyes towards yours and sees how you seem very off, as well with getting lost into your own world without even knowing. He was about to comfort you when out of nowhere you bolted out of the room, he stops Bruce from following you and let's you have your space which you are glad for. You run towards the nearest restroom and instantly fall to your knees when you reach the toilet, not caring at the moment that the door is halfway open.

You relieve your stomach until you have nothing left to throw up. When you had nothing left you still sat by the toilet as you let your head rest in it's cold frame and try to even your breathing, as well with calming your stomach. As you were calming yourself, your mind went back to that traumatic moment and felt your stomach swirling once again. Never in your life would you think this would happen again, or at least witness another suicide with a person you tried to help. Again.

The feeling of a soft, warm hand on your sweaty forehead brings you back to reality. Looking up through heavy eyes you see Stephen crouched near you and looking at you with worried eyes, as soon as you saw him you felt tears wanting to build up, but instead of crying you hugged him tightly. You buried your face into his chest as you hold him with all your force, you then feel something heavy on the side of your head and the sound of Stephens voice trying to comfort you. 

Sensing that something horrible happened, Stephen only tightens his hold on you and places his chin on top of your head as he pulls you towards him. He cradled you in his arms until you felt ready to head back to the team, unfortunately you still kept hugging him and kept your face buried in his chest, giving him a sign that you weren't going to let go anytime soon. Eventually he convinced you to head back, but that didn't stop you from letting him go.

Before walking back towards the team you did your best to wash off the blood on your skin, but still had plenty on your clothes and tried scrubbing harder until a scarred hand stopped yours. Stephen takes the bloody towel away from your hold and intertwines your fingers together instead. You held his hand tightly as if you were afraid to get lost in the building and only making Stephen more worry and suspicious on what had happened when he had left. From the pale face, red eyes and being constantly lost in thought, he knew whatever happened was going to be hard for you to shake. But not once did he thought about leaving you alone to deal with it, the only thing he thought about was staying with you until the end of time.

Walking back down the hall with hands intertwined with Stephens, you hear loud voices coming from a room where everyone was arguing. You knew why they were arguing, they thought they won't be able to find out about the nuclear weapons now that Rico is dead, but little did they know you would make their life ten times more easier and five times harder.

"I have the rest of the map," You say from where your standing and make the whole room quiet when they all turn to you, even Stephen looks at you with furrowed brows,

"I found the rest of the warehouses, but I don't know if some of them are still being used," You say while walking in the room with Stephen behind, "But with technology we can find out right?," You give a light chuckle which causes Bruce to smile and nods his head in agreement,

"Good, lets get to work then," Fury says, "Hills, on me," He walks around the round table and before he leaves the room he stops beside you and places a hand on your shoulder,

"Great work Cap...," He pats your shoulder before continuing, "I never doubted you kid," you nod your head at him as a response since you still didn't have words forming in your head,

You were slightly use to the name 'Cap' but still felt like you can't breathe whenever its mentioned towards you. You don't think you'll ever get that feeling to go away, that feeling is the only feeling you have to remind you of Steve and to remind you he was real. Without that feeling you believe you would have been more lost and more guilty. Sensing your body go stiff and hearing your breathing escalating Stephen wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you closer towards his chest. He then whispers in your ear, causing you to relax your muscles and controlling your breathing. You lean your back in his chest as you even your breathing and close your eyes.

"Your okay," You hear Stephens voice in your ear and feel him tightening his hold and pulling you closer against him,

You nod your head at him, giving him the signal that your fine and ready to go back to Tony's office to retrieve the information you found. You walked towards the office with Stephens hand protectively and tightly wrapped with yours, he never left your side, not even when you went to the desk to grab the map. He stood by your side like a small duck who imprinted on their mother. After getting the map and the rest of the information you headed back to Fury and gave him what you found, thanking you and complimenting you once again he tells you to take the rest of the day off.

You tried to refuse and make him change his mind, but wasn't able to since he ignored your complaints and walked out of the room before saying., "Take care of her Strange," 

Stephen only chuckles and smiles when he sees your pout, and quickly makes a portal to your apartment. Stepping inside with an annoyed groan and Stephen following behind, you weren't able to go that far into your home since Zeus jumps at you and starts to sniff your bloody shirt, you then hear him whimper every time he sniffs and licks your shirt.

Smiling at his concern and protectiveness you comfort him by patting his head, "It's okay boy, I'm fine," 

You bend down and hug him, but Zeus had a idea and jumped on top of you as he started licking your face, making you giggle when it would tickle. Stephen watches from behind and can't help but smile when he stares at two things he loves, he's glad he got Zeus for you because he knows when he's not there to protect you, he knows you will be safe with Zeus.

"I'll get the shower ready," Stephen says and makes you look up at him, you nod at him while still playing with Zeus,

Stephen bends down to place a kiss on your head before going upstairs to your bathroom, you watched as he walked up the stairs and realized he was in his blue robes and not his casual clothes that he had on the beach. With or without casual clothes he still looked handsome as ever. After a couple of seconds later you go up to your restroom, opening the door you see Stephen touching the water and looking at you with a smile. He walks towards you when he feels the water at a fine temperature.

"Shower. I'll get you some fresh clothes," He tells you and places a passionate kiss on your forehead before leaving and giving you privacy,

You smile at his gentleness and blush when you still feel his lips on your skin. With a tired sigh you shrug off your bloody shirt and bra-along with your  shoes, pants, and finally your underwear. Stepping into the steaming water you groan when you feel it against your sore muscles and feeling them relax under its warmth. You lower your head under its water and closed your eyes as you feel it's warm water falling down your head and massaging it, you stayed there until you decided to finally grab the shampoo.

After finishing with your head, you grabbed the sponge. Pouring amounts of its coconut cream soap, and scrubbing all over your body. As you were in the process of scrubbing, you looked down at your hands and saw they were still stained with red and of course the event came back. To not remember it's traumatizing moment you closed your eyes tightly and tried to focus on showering so you can get out and be with Stephen. But they wouldn't go away, they only got stronger and harder each time you would think about it. The blood, the body, the gun, everything was becoming too much that you dropped the sponge and slowly started to sob quietly to not alert Stephen.

Your back connects with it's freezing tiles, but that doesn't stop you from sliding down until your bottom touched the tub. You bring your knees to your chest as you buried your face and let the tears out that've been building and threatening to spill. You didn't care if Stephen walked in and found you naked in the shower and crying, he already saw how you looked under the clothes so why would it be any different now?  
You didn't know how long you've been in that position, but did realized the water was not warm anymore, it was freezing cold but you could careless. The sound of a door opening, the feeling of warm hands on your cheek, and the sound of the water shutting off brought your face to look up, you saw Stephen grabbing your robe from its hanger and walking back towards you.

"Shhh it's okay Y/n," He says while slowly lifting you off the floor and wrapping you in the robe,

He leads you out the restroom with his arms safely wrapped around you and sits you down on the bed with him. Instantly you curl on his side while shivering from the cold and he doesn't hesitate to pull you close, not caring that his shirt is damped and sticking to his skin. He only cares about calming you and bringing you back from your thoughts. You didn't even know you went stiff and went into your own world, that's until he places both hands on your face and forces you look at him.

He calls out your name while gently rubbing his thumbs on your cheek. Slowly blinking and looking into his mesmerizing eyes with a blurry vision you see how they are full of concern and a hint of relief. Sighing loudly, Stephen brings your face closer to his and softly connects your foreheads together and closes his eyes. You knew he was worried and wanted answers on what happened and knew it would be hard for you to talk about it, but you would try.

After a while of being in his hold and calming down you lift your head to meet his eyes before speaking, "I'm okay,"

He looks at you with unsure eyes and brings his hand on your cheek as he rubs his thumb softly.

"No, your not." He says, "Talk to me,"

You look into his eyes and saw how much worry there was along with concern and knew he wouldn't stop asking. So after letting you change into warm clothes and somewhat drying your hair both of you went downstairs towards the living room and sat next to each other on the couch. Taking a long breath you told him everything. About your father, his past, how he was close to Mr. Orlov, and about Rico's traumatizing death. You snuggled closer into his arms after talking about that event, feeling tears building up from having to see all that blood again. 

When you were a child you witnessed your first suicide. Walking inside your home after feeling bored of swinging by yourself, you were about to turn into the kitchen when you heard a loud thud upstairs. Being the curious little girl that you were, you went upstairs to see what was that loud noise. At first you thought it was your father doing stuff in his office but you remembered he had went out to buy some groceries and it was only you and your mother at home. Turning to your right you see a door slightly open, walking towards it and pushing the door open you see a body right in the middle of the floor.

Your mothers eyes were wide open, blood dripping on the side of her head and her arm sticking outward with a long needle stuck towards her skin. Before you can process anything in your minor mind, you feel a pair of strong arms dragging you away from the room. You kicked and punched whoever was dragging you because all you wanted was your mother back, but knew that wouldn't be possible.

By the time you finished telling Stephen about your past you had tears coming down once again. The memories, talking about it and remembering your mothers beautiful smile brought the same pain in your heart once again. You never spoke about it since it would only bring pain and anxiety so you locked it deep inside to not remember, but after Rico everything came back and feeling that empty feeling in your chest.

Stephen holds you tighter against him as you sob into his —now dry shirt— and grip onto it like your life depended. He rocked you both on the couch while saying something in his Master of the Mystic Arts language and feeling yourself feeling better and feeling yourself calming down. Knowing all too well he had placed a spell on you and not caring about it. It didn't take long for your breathing to even out, but you still had tears coming down and you still held Stephens shirt in your hand tightly. Your face was near his neck and would get his scent, making you feel slightly better.

Then after a couple minutes you started to kiss his neck, they were small feathery kisses but soon started to escalate when you started giving him open mouth kisses. At first Stephen had moved his neck for you, but once he did you straddled his laps and kissed him on his lips instantly. He gasps in your mouth at the sudden movement and then groans when you rocked your hips. You then feel his hands resting on either side of your waist with a hard grip and slowing your hips from moving, you still manage to move your hips which makes his grip tighten.

You knew he wanted to stop, but you needed something to distract you from the memories and having Stephen with you, comforting you is enough to get distracted. You let your fingers run through his thick hair and grip on to it as you rock your hips onto his one last time before feeling one hand cupping your cheek and feeling him pulling away. You lowly whimper when you don't feel his warm lips on yours and quickly try to reconnect them but Stephens hold is stronger than you expected and keeps you away so he can speak.

"Y/n, we shouldn't," He says while looking at you with worried eyes, fearing your only wanting this to avoid the emotions you must be feeling,

"Please... please," You whimper against his lips as you pull on his hair, you didn't care if you sounded desperate. Deep down you were, only because you wanted to forgot that day and only cherish Stephens warmth around you,

Stephen looks at you with unsure eyes and lets you bring his face back towards yours until your lips connect again. You once again whimper and sigh against his lips, and even groan when he pushes his tongue in your mouth and dances around with your tongue. He battles with your tongue while you rock your hips, pull on his hair earning a groan from him, and pulling off his shirt, throwing it on the couch beside you and feeling his firm chest with your fingers. He then breaks the kiss but doesn't hesitate to bring his lips to your neck and shoulder.

He then stops when he sees his marks from earlier and looks at you in your eyes before slowly moving and giving them a small peck before moving his lips near the mark and sucks harder. You arch your back at the chill that runs through your body and groan when he continues to torture your neck. Peeling away from your neck he connects his lips with yours while gently pulling down your sweater from your left shoulder, once it reveals a bit of skin he gives it a kiss and then back up to your lips. After removing your sweater he throws it with his shirt and continues to kiss you, you then let your hands roam down his warm, firm chest until they land on his belt buckle.You don't hesitate to undo it.

While removing his belt from its buckle and kissing him, everything felt like it was spinning and making your stomach swirl. You tried ignoring the feel and tried focusing on Stephen, but then the event from earlier and your mother lying on the ground with a needle in her arm made your stomach ten times more angry and felt like your head was spinning faster. You break the kiss in a sudden movement, making Stephen look at you with furrowed brows and only getting more confused when he sees you jumping from his lap and bolting up stairs.

He stays on the couch dumbfounded at the drastic moment but quickly makes his way towards where he knows to well you are. Believing his instincts he found you on your knees with your face almost inside the toilet. Quickly going to your side he holds your hair from your face while rubbing your back and saying comforting things in your ear. Once you finish throwing up pure liquid you start to sob once again, but thankfully Stephen had wrapped you in his arms before you even shed a tear. He kisses your sweaty forehead and leans his cheek on top of your head while rocking you slowly in his arms, he stayed there on the ground with you until you were okay to get back up. 

After a while he picks you up bridal style and takes you to your bedroom. He gently lays you on the comforter before laying beside you and wrapping his arms around you, you then switch your position with your back facing him and only feeling him move close behind, not leaving your side. You smile to yourself when you feel his warm chest against you and feeling him intertwining his fingers with yours and feeling him placing a kiss on your head.

"Get some sleep Y/n," You hear his voice before feeling your eyes get heavy and then seeing nothing but darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!!  
> -  
> \-   
> Sorry for updating late Ao3 has been acting up but I finally got to post!! 💕💕


	14. Sleep Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning ⚠️: Smut

You wake up to the sound of birds chirping and the feeling of something soft hitting your face every three seconds. Slowly opening your eyes from the bright light that is coming through your window, you quickly close them again when you feel something hitting your face again. Moving your head to the side and having your hand in front of you as a shield you try to look at whatever is hitting you, through hooded eyes you see Zeus happily wagging his tail while having his tongue out. You chuckle at him and pet his bottom before looking over your shoulder, you see Stephen sleeping with his arm around your waist.

Slowly you remove his hand and get up from the bed without waking him up. Zeus jumps off when you sat on your bed, you quietly stretched your arms in the air before getting up and leaving your room with Zeus behind. As you reached the bottom of the stairs you head towards your balcony with Zeus following behind, sliding the door open you let him walk first before stepping out into the cold morning of New York. You lean on the rail with your forearms as you observe everything, cars passing, people walking and talking, and birds flying in the grey sky. You then look down at your forearm and lightly start to scratch it when you remembered about your mother, it was a habit you had when you were smaller. Every time you’d remember that memory, you would scratch your skin until it will become raw and red and would start to hurt.

The habit started slowly fading away when you entered middle school, but would have days where you would scratch it nonstop. You were brought out of your thoughts when you felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around your waist and feeling a pair of warm lips on your neck, making you feel shivers down your spine. With a smile you lean your head on Stephens head where he had it buried in your neck, with a smile you peel away from the rail and lean in on his chest as you stare out to the city. Stephen would place small pecks on your neck, causing you to smile and lean more into his chest and feeling him tightening his hold on your waist.

Stephen then leans his chin on your shoulder as he stares straight ahead with you and breathing slowly with you. After a while of being in comfortable silence, you bring your eyes towards the ground as you prepare yourself for what you are about to reveal to Stephen. 

“When my mom died, my father had me in three different therapists...,” You say and stay quiet before continuing, “Even when I was a kid, I still didn’t like to talk about it,”

You look back up towards the city before speaking out again, “I guess I never changed,” you say it in a whisper,

Stephen brings his chin up from your shoulder and stares at you. He kept his hold on you when he replied back, and felt your hands intertwining with his as he spoke.

“You didn’t speak to them because you didn’t trust them,” 

“I don’t think it had to do with trust,” You say with your voice cracking when you feel that empty feeling in your chest when you picture your mother once again on the floor,

“Then what was it?” Stephen asks and furrowing his brows when you tighten your hands with his,

He knew you were touching a topic that made you scared, and deep down he hoped you would just talk to him about how your feeling or what your feeling. He wanted to help, but you kept hiding your emotions away from him making him get frustrated when he can’t break you to speak out.

In a low whisper you reply back, “Fear,” wincing when your voice breaks even more as you speak and knowing too well Stephen will try to make you talk about it,

“Fear of talking?,”

“Fear of falling apart,” You say, 

As soon as you said that a tear rolls down your face, then you feel Stephen untangling his fingers with yours and turns you around so your facing him instead. He wipes away your tear as he stares into your eyes, he wants nothing more than for you to speak to him, but he knows it’s a hard subject for you and doesn’t want you to think he’s forcing you to speak. So instead he kisses your forehead and pulls you in for a hug, you wrap your arms around his waist tightly and bury your face in his chest.

You inhale a shaky breath and try to stop the tears from spilling. You’ve realized you had just admitted to Stephen about being afraid of falling apart, meaning you were afraid you will go back to the person you were a couple months ago. Even if he didn’t know that’s what you meant, you still told him you were afraid of breaking and being afraid of falling. You then feel Stephen lifting your head so you can look into his eyes, you then see how he has a smile on his face making you look at him with furrowed brows.

“How bout we just... take a break for a while?” He asks and continues when he sees you with the same confused face, “..Stay with me at the Sanctum, at least for the rest of the week, and maybe the weekend.” He finishes with a smile,

You chuckle at him before replying, “Can you even have guests there that long?,” 

“I’m the Master of the Sanctum, and nobody questions the Master,” Stephen says with a smirk,

You smile at him and think about his invitation, but then remembered he wasn’t the only one living in the Sanctum and had a feeling Wong would not like you to be around for that long. Then of course you remembered about Zeus and you didn’t want to leave him alone for so long, you were protective of him and couldn’t leave him alone for two days without being worried about him. Like the time you were in Italy for almost two weeks, you couldn’t stop thinking about him and worrying about him, but knew he was being taken care of by Peter.

“What about Wong? I’ve seen how he easily gets annoyed by people,” Stephen chuckles at your reply and can’t help but let a smile out,

“Surprisingly, he was the one who offered,” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, he heard about what happened and... thought it would be best for you to stay with us for a while,” He says with a smile,

You smile and place a strand of hair behind your ear, staying at the Sanctum with Stephen.. and Wong did sound fun. Although, when you looked towards Zeus who was biting his own paw made you have second thoughts.

“What about Zeus?” You ask and point towards him,

Stephen chuckles when he sees the K9 chewing on his own paw and can’t help but love a dog more.

“I’m pretty sure Wong wouldn’t mind a furry friend,” He says with a shrug, “So what do you say? Wanna have a sleep over?” 

You smile up at him and let your hand rest on his face while the other one tangles with his locks. You bring his face down and connect your lips together before replying back and making Stephen smile wider at your response.

“Deal,”

*********  
Two days had passed and you couldn’t be more happier to accept the Sorcerers invitation. You would be everywhere with him, from the library, to his room, the training area and even the roof where you can see the city of New York. There would be times where you would take Zeus for walks in the park with Stephen and Peter, or just be with him in his bed until Wong would bang at his door to wrap up the loving cuddles and get out to the fresh air. For the past two days, Stephen was yours 24/7, until Wong had asked if he could help out with a spell.

Getting up from his bed and putting on some jeans he leaves his room before giving you a kiss on the lips. You let him know you would be down in a minute, nodding his head at you and calling Zeus he leaves his room. You sigh happily in his bed and get up to go downstairs, you grab one of his sweaters before heading down. As you walked down the hall towards the library you would admire small paintings and small relics in cases with curiosity. You liked how very detail each painting and relic would have and was fascinated by its power. There was some relics that you knew, whilst others were new to you and Wong would gladly explain to you about its master or it’s power. Sometimes Stephen would stand back to observe your form, seeing how interested you were in, seeing how you would smile when something would be exciting to hear and being happy to see that smile again.

Turning the corner to the hall you finally walk in the library and see both Sorcerers standing near the table and staring down at a big book. Stephens back was facing you and Wong was in front of him, being to focused on another book to even notice your presence.

“Wait Wong, this a spell to undo something,” Stephen says after finish reading the page of the book and looks up at the man with furrowed brows,

“I know,” Wong replies without looking at him,

“And you don’t know how to undo a spell?”

“Surprisingly I’m doing something wrong, it doesn’t want to work,” Wong says as he closes his book and goes back to search for another,

“Yes, Surprisingly,” Stephen replies sarcastically and looks back down,

He sits down on the chair as he re-reads the page that he is having difficulty translating since it’s in German, which is something he mentally marks to practice on. You take the opportunity to walk in and stand behind him with an arm wrapped behind him, you greet the older Sorcerer which he replies with grunt and continues to glare at his book. You snort at them both and finding it adorable when you see Stephen doing the same thing and seeing how he squints at something he doesn’t understand.

“How’s work?” You ask with a smirk, then get a slamming book in return from Wong,

You snort at him and hear Stephen let out a frustrated sigh. He rubs his face with his hands and leans on the chair as he crosses his arms in front of him.

“There has to be something there,” Wong says and turns around back towards the small library,

Stephen only scoffs and stares at the book, you on the other hand glance over his head and read without hesitation.

“It says you need lambs blood,” You walk around the table and sit in front of Stephen, you then notice how he’s looking at you with raised eyebrows, you also turn around to Wong who was staring at you under his lashes while having another book in his hands,

“What? I took Foreign classes in school,” You say with a shrug,

“I didn’t know you could read German,” Stephens says with a smile playing on his lips,

“You never asked,” You shrug again,

He smiles wider at you and stares at you with admiration in his eyes, you smile back but feel shy about your small secret.

“What else does it say?” Wong asks and walks back in the room,

Breaking the staring contest with Stephen you glance to Wong before sliding the book towards yourself. Reading it silently with the two Sorcerers waiting for your response, you speak out again.

“You need saltwater, leafs from a rainforest and.. human blood,” You say,

“That’s great, we have all that back at Kamar-Taj,” Stephen says while clapping his hands together,

“Except for the human blood, no Sorcerer can place their blood in a spell,” Wong says while making a portal to a warehouse of Kamar- Taj and grabbed the ingredients for the spell,

Stephen sighs once again and tries to think of a way to get blood, but then he sees how you slowly raise your hand in the air and making him shake his head before you can even say anything.

“I’m the only blood available here who can help,” You say towards him and see how he only shakes his head which makes you stare him with a stern look,

“She has a point Stephen,” Wong’s voice comes in the room and sets the stuff on the table, “we don’t have time to search for a volunteer,”

Stephen stays quiet, even if he doesn’t want it to be you he knows there’s no time and there’s no other way at the moment. So instead of being stubborn he sighs loudly and nods his head towards his friend. With a nod Wong starts to prepare the ingredients, first the saltwater, next the leafs, then a couple drops of dirt, the lambs blood and finally gets a small blade and grabs your hand. He stares at you before slowly cutting your palm, making you wince at the small sting but quickly close your hand in a fist motion and letting the blood drip in the bowl.

You didn’t know how much blood the spell needed so you had your hand over the bowl for a couple of minutes before Stephen got too paranoid and wanted you to stop. 

“I think that’s enough,” Wong ignores him and squeezes your hand once more before letting you pull back,

In an instant Stephen grabs your hand in his and places his fingers on your fresh wound and speaks lowly in his language. Pulling your hand back from his you see the blood and cut gone, looking back at him with a smile you turn back around to Wong who was mixing everything in the bowl. After a while of him mixing you go back to the book to see what else it has, but a word catches your attention.

“Quick question, what’s a Chimera?” Stephen instantly glares at the other Sorcerer before replying back in a harsh tone,

“Seriously Wong! You turned a student into a Chimera?!”

Wong rolls his eyes at Stephens temper and continues to mix his ingredients.

“I told you I got the spell wrong,” 

Stephen scoffs at his friend and shakes his head in disbelief. After a while of mixing Wong grabs the bowl and motions Stephen to follow him with his head, grabbing your hand in his Stephen follows him with you behind him. As you were walking hand in hand with Stephen the three of you finally make your way into a room with all kinds of cages and bright light coming from the ceiling. Straight ahead was the creature itself, the body and head of a lion, dragon wings attached on its back with a dragon head on one side and goat on the other. It was terrifying and something new you just witnessed.

No matter how long you’ve known Stephen and his life, you will never get used to magic. You barely believed in ghost and aliens, now both were haunting you. Now magic comes along and making everything question about life, after finding the truth of your universe you believed in almost every supernatural. The only thing you’ve never thought would be true are the mythical creatures you would read about as a kid, the way this chimera was staring and growling at you made you get interested with it. You didn’t know why but it was like if it was luring you towards it, but Stephen noticed how you gripped his hand and the way the creature was staring at you with intense eyes.

Stephen quickly becomes protective and stands beside you while staring back at the Chimera with cold hard eyes.

“I think this is my cue,” You say not breaking eye contact with the creature, “I’ll take Zeus for a walk,”

“Thats a good idea,” Stephen says with cold eyes and stands in front of you when the Chimera growls at him and shows him his 9inch K9’s,

Looking from the creature locked in its cage to Stephen protectively standing in front of you was making you nervous about the whole spell and the thought of leaving both men alone, but the way the Chimera was licking its mouth made you think twice.

“Stay safe will you,” It was more of a demand than a question,

Stephen looks back at you and smiles, “Of course,”

Smiling at him and looking back at the creature you leave the room before supporting Wong and telling him to be safe. In return he shushes you since he is trying to focus on the spell with closed eyes, rolling your eyes you walk out the room before looking back at Stephen one final time. Grabbing your phone and Zeus’s leash you head out the Sanctum doors and into the cold brisk of New York. You walked around the block a couple times until you finally decided to walk further more into New York, first you went towards a lake you used to run at, and then found yourself at a dog park where there were all kinds of breeds.

Unhooking Zeus from his leash you watched him run off with other dogs with a smile, you loved it when he would get excited to play with his kind and couldn’t help but smile when he acts like a puppy whenever he meets new friends. As you were watching him play there would be times where he would bring you a stick and you would happily toss it for him to fetch, you did that a couple times until you sat down at a near by bench and observe him from there. After a couple of minutes passed you felt someone sitting next to you, but didn’t pay any attention and figured it was just another person watching their dog like you. 

That’s until a familiar voice speaks out and making you jump and unexpected voice, as well with the visit.

“Nice day,” 

“Jesus Christ!” You yelp and turn to the person beside you, “Your lucky I don’t have my gun with me Fury!”

He only chuckles at you and faces back towards the various dogs playing with each other.

“Are you following me?” You ask after getting your breathing back to normal,

“Just keeping tabs,”

“Oh so your stalking me,” 

Fury brings his eye at you, “Just for an emergency,”

“Mmhmm,” You say and look back to the park and lean more into the bench,

“I just came to say we won’t be needing you for a while,” Fury speaks again after a couple seconds and makes you look at him with furrowed brows,

You didn’t why he would say such a thing, but had an idea why he did. You were getting really annoyed by people who saw you as a weak persons who can’t handle dead bodies, even if you knew they had the right to say because any small thing like that seats triggers you.

“If this is about Rico I-,” You start to say but get interrupted,

“It’s not,” He says hesitating, “You’ve been doing a hella of a job, and I’m just giving you a couple days off,”

You shake your head with an annoyed sigh, “Fury I’m fine, I don’t need-..,”

“That’s an order,” He says sternly and makes you shut up quickly, “Careful with that mutt,”

You look at him with furrowed brows but look where he was staring and quickly jumping from your spot when you see Zeus trying to steal a dirty diaper from a man on the floor. 

“Zeus no stop! Spit it out!” You say and successfully grab it from his mouth,

You look upwards to the man with a apologetic smile and hand him the diaper before saying sorry multiple times.

“I guess he’s a fan of dirty diapers, this is the second patch he tries to steal,” The man says with a smile and locks his bright green eyes with yours,

You chuckle while placing Zeus on his leash, “Well if it’s something round he’ll go for it,”

The man just smiles and laughs at your comment before bringing his eyes to a whimpering baby. Looking over his shoulder you see how the little toddler has brown curly hair and big green eyes just like the man on the ground near him. You then see how the man gently grabs the baby and placing him on his lap, he hands him a chew toy and brings back his eyes towards you.

“I’m Colby,” He extends his free arm, “This here is Tyler,” He says while bouncing a giggling baby on his knee,

You smile at the toddler and shake what you presume was the fathers hand and introducing yourself as well. You talked to him for a couple minutes, you found out he was a single father and had one child which was Tyler. You also found out he had barely moved into Queens and was his third day out on the park with his son. After a while of talking to him you decided to head back to the Sanctum.

“I hope I’ll see you again?” He asks while helping you up from the floor,

You smile at him and take Zeus leash in your hands and walk away before replying back.

“Maybe,” With that he smiles back at you and waved goodbye before turning the opposite direction,

The rest of the way to the Sanctum you would observe every little store, lights, people walking, dogs barking and people being road rage from the traffic. Everything would calm you and soothe you. How? Well growing up in New York you actually get used to the noise and actually consider the noise as meditation to yourself, others think it’s crazy when people say ‘New York is not bad’ in reality you know New York City is the busiest and loudest place of the world, but you’ve gotten used it and wouldn’t want to trade it for anything else.

As you turned the corner of the street you quickly went up the Sanctum doors and took your spare key that Stephen had gave you. Unlocking the doors you walk in and let Zeus out of his leash before closing the door. You noticed how everything seemed very quiet and still, even Zeus felt the tension and began sniffing the floor, but once you saw him wagging his tail you relaxed and knew there was no danger in the building. You yell up the staircase but didn’t get an answer back,

Shrugging you turn around to head to the library, but once you turned the corner you jumped and yelped when you see Wong standing in the shadows of the Sanctum. Even if it was your third day in the building you still weren’t used to him quietly sneaking up or randomly appearing next to you, instead he would always make you get mini heart attacks without even trying.

“Jesus Wong!” You tell him while placing a hand on your chest,

He grunts in response and walks out from the shadows, you noticed how he was wiping a bit of blood from his forehead and having a small bandage on his left eyebrow. From the looks of it you knew it wasn’t just a simple spell, you knew it was probably more difficult than it thought. Seeing the bloody towel in his hands made you remember about Stephen and becoming worried about him, you started thinking all kinds of things but calmly asked for him before having any thoughts. 

“Where’s Stephen?”

He points down the hall with the bloody towel, “Shower,” is all he says and turns around, 

As you were about to walk down the hall you were stopped by his other response.

“I’m heading back to Kamar-Taj to check on the kid,” He stops walking and looks at you with stern eyes, “Stay out of my room,”

You furrow your brows at him, “What?”

“Make sure you put a sock on the door-,”

“Oh my.. bye Wong!,” He chuckles proudly and walks into the portal,

You shake your head with a smile and walk down the hall with Zeus behind, instead of him following you inside of Stephens room he settles next to the Cloak and lays down below it. You then see how the cloak gently wraps itself on him, you smile at them both and walk inside Stephens room. As you walked inside you saw his blue tunics and boots were on the floor, the door to his restroom was slightly open and you walked towards it before placing the leash on his desk.

Opening the door to the restroom your vision is met with fog everywhere and pure warmth, on the floor were his socks and underwear and in the tub only a few centimeters away was Stephen. He had his eyes closed and his head leaning on the tub with his arms either side of it. He opens one eye when he hears his door being opened and smiles at you when he sees you sitting on the edge of the tub.

“Hi,” You say with a smile,

He takes your hand in his and squeezes it before replying, “Hey,”

You rub your thumb on his hand and stare into his piercing eyes.

“How was the walk?” He asks,

“It was good, Zeus managed to steal two diapers,”

“Ohh no,” He chuckles and repositions himself in the tub,

You stay seated on the edge and observe his face, you saw how he has a red gash on the side of his eyebrow and having a small cut on his bottom lip, as well with another cut on his upper cheek. You sigh lowly and speak out again.

“I guess the spell wasn’t easy?” You ask and see how Stephen goes stiff and his expression goes stern as he remembered something he did not like,

“What matters is that the student is back to normal and that Chimera is long gone,” He says sternly with tight brows,

You didn’t know why but you could have felt his anger, his worried and frustration just by looking at him. You didn’t what happened but didn’t feel like pushing the topic any further, so instead you got up from your spot and turned to him.

“I’ll get you some clean clothes,” With a sigh and a small smile you walk out the bathroom and towards his drawers,

As you were getting him some fresh underwear and warmer clothing you went to your thoughts. Back when you were sitting with Fury and thinking why he didn’t need you back at the base, deep down you thought it was because of the Rico incident but at the same time thought he only wanted you take a break. Even you knew you needed it from the constant research, cans of red bull and days going by without sleep. Just thinking about those long nights made you feel more exhausted and feeling yourself getting drowsy at the thought. Not only did you think about the small talk with Fury, but you also thought about your darken days. The days where you would do your small stupid routine of smoking, snorting and drinking.

You weren’t going to lie, the past two days when Stephen wasn’t around in the Sanctum you would sneak in a couple of sips from a bottle you had bought not too long ago and would keep it hidden. You felt guilty with every sip, but the nightmare of seeing Rico dead on the ground and then remembering about your mother was becoming too much to handle and would try to wash those memories away by drinking again. Although, in your naughty side it felt good to feel that burning sensation in your throat again, feeling it’s hard whiskey going down your throat made you miss it and only got more addicted once again. You knew you had gotten hooked on drinking again, but would try to control whenever you were around Stephen or Wong. 

The feeling of toned warm, wet arms around your torso and lips on your neck broke you out of your thoughts. You were facing the large window that oversees New York when you felt Stephen kissing on your neck more harder and sucking a spot, making you gasp lowly and closing your eyes at the new sensation that’s running in your body. You then feel his hands wondering on your stomach, one was massaging your stomach while the other was pulling you towards his firm chest. Then realizing he was only in just a towel that was wrapped around his waist. 

“Did he leave?” He says in between kisses on your neck and sucking on your earlobe causing a shiver down your back,

Knowing who he’s talking about you nod your head and only move your head to the left to gain him more access. Growling in his throat he takes advantage of your neck and licks a long stripe towards your earlobe before speaking in a rough voice.

“Good,” He instantly turns you around so your facing him and doesn’t waste time to attach his lips on yours,

You groan at the sudden movement but roll your lips with his in sync. You then realized he was still wet from his body and his hair was slightly damped, you let your fingers get tangled in his wet locks and pull on them when he pushes you against the window. He then speeds his kisses in a fast and desperate motion, making you furrow your brows at his drastic mood change and try pulling away from him, but he only pins you harder against the cold glass and starts to abuse your neck instead.

“Stephen..,” You say through harsh breaths, “Stephen stop,”

He wouldn’t bulge. Instead he kissed and sucked harder making you groan and gasp when you feel his hand forcefully shoving down your pants. He rubs you through firm fingers, making you thrust your hips onto his digits but quickly gather yourself and try to push him off to get him to talk. He has never acted this way. Rough and possessive over you, you didn’t know why but you felt it had to do something with the creature he had dealt with not too long ago. Roughly grabbing onto his wet locks you pull him off your neck and grab his hand out of your jeans before placing it on his chest to stop him from leaning in once again.

He opens his eyes and glares at you, something you’ve never seen him do and only glaring back at his different mood change. He clenches his jaw and sighs heavily before relaxing his expression and leans his head on your shoulder, you instantly place your hand at the back of his head and massage his scalp while feeling him taking in steady breaths.

“What’s wrong?” You ask but don’t get a response, after a couple of seconds of silence you were about to ask again when he spoke out through a cracked voice,

“It was you,” Your furrow your brows and getting confused at his response,

“What?”

“It wanted you,” You then feel how he places his hand on either side of your hips and gripping them as he buries his face in your neck,

“I saw what he wanted... it was you,” He says with stern voice but still hearing it shake as he spoke,

You automatically understood what he was talking about. The way the Chimera stared at you made sense, it had chosen you and wanted to keep you for itself, wanting to prove he was the only Alpha for you. Which of course Stephen knew right away and becoming possessive and protective of you in a heart beat.

You gently lift his head from your neck and look into his tired eyes as you speak softly at him, “And I’m still here,”

With that you kissed him on the lips in a gentle manner, you pull away to stare at his eyes before leaning back down to capture his lips which he acted back in the kiss. He kisses you while lifting you off the floor and walking you both to his bed, he lays you on it while hovering you. You both kiss until you part away for him to remove your shirt, once that was off he removes your jeans along with your underwear and tossing it somewhere in his room. He leans back down towards your lips and taking the moment to unwrap him from his waist, making his now harden cock spring up and slapping his stomach and your core earning a small groan from your lips.

While still dancing with your tongue he easily slides inside your aching core and thrusting in and out with a slow motion. You sigh against his lips when he fills you up and groaning when he starts to move. He breaks the kiss to stare into your eyes as he speaks with hooded eyes.

“I love you Y/n,” He groans when he feels you clenching on him and closing his eyes when he gets pure pleasure around his shaft,

“I love you too,” You let one hand grips his shoulder while the other one grips his locks and leaving marks on his back when he speeds his movements,

He hits the right spots and with a small deep thrust he finds your g-spot making you close your eyes and groan out loud. He lavishes your neck in hot wet kisses and bites down on it when he only thrust into you more harder, by now you were leaving his back with red marks and making you have a painful building sensation in your stomach. 

“Stephen... I’m gonna... ohh fuck.. I’m-,” You groan when you climaxed hard and only grip harder onto his shoulders,

He continues to pound into you while you ride your orgasm and only grunting when he feels his own climax building. With a few more thrusts he feels his cock throbbing and quickly pulls out just in time when he explodes his load on your core. He grunts against your lips and feeling him griping onto your hips as he rides though his own climax, after he finishes he slumps on top of you which you didn’t care if he was extremely heavy. After a couple of steady breaths he moves off your form and settles next to you, but instead of laying next you he keeps his head on your chest and an arm over your stomach. You knew he was exhausted so you helped him sleep it off by giving him a kiss on his head before massaging it and listening to his breathing even out.

“Goodnight Stephen,” You say as you stare up towards his ceiling,

It didn’t take long for him to completely knock out, but you were still awake and kept massaging his scalp. After an hour or two you too fell asleep with him, only to be waken up at eight in the morning by the sound of your phone vibrating on the floor. Slowly untangling Stephen from your body you softly get off his bed to retrieve your phone out of your jeans, looking at the screen you saw it was a text message from Happy. It sounded important since he mentioned something about Pepper having pain and being to violent with him, chuckling at his scared emoji you start to get dressed. You got dressed quietly but didn’t notice how Stephen stirred in his bed and slowly waking up due to you not being by his side.

You were putting on your jeans when his sleepy voice made you jump.

“Why am I always waking up to an empty bed?” You give him an apologetic smile and walk towards him before zipping your jeans,

“Sorry, I would stay but Happy needs my rescue,” He extends his right arm at you motioning you to stay in bed but you kiss his lips instead and sit on the edge to put on your shoes,

“Want me to take you?”

“Can you?”

He gives you a tired smile, “Of course,” with that he gets up from bed and walks towards the clean sweats that were on the ground that you had for him the other night before being tossed to the floor,

Grabbing his sling ring from his desk he makes a portal to Tony’s living room and kisses you before you step inside. Grabbing your things from his room and calling Zeus from the hall you step inside the portal with Zeus behind.

“Thanks,” You say to him with a smile,

“No problem,”

“Go to sleep, I’ll call you later,” You tell him while placing your backpack on the couch,

“Okay,” He says with a nod,

He continues to stare at you from the portal, you roll your eyes at him and stick your head towards his side and kissing one last time on the lips, making him smile against you. With a wave the portal closes and your left alone in the room, you sigh but chuckle when you hear a loud yelp and a scream coming from Peppers room.

“Just get me more pillows!”

“You already have twelve!” You chuckle and think; This will be another interesting week,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! 💕💕  
> -  
> -  
> -  
> Stay tuned for more!! ⚠️⚠️


	15. Welcome Little One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something exciting happens!!

“So how’s your day?” Stephen says through the phone and adjusted his position in his bed,

“Pure groans and cravings. What do you think?” You say with humor, earning a chuckle from the Sorcerer and makes you smile as you hold your phone with your cheek and shoulder as you continue to spread Nutella on a bread,

A week had passed by a flash and you had been staying at Peppers, only to make sure she won’t pop and give birth without any supervision. Happy was there as well but would try and keep his distance from Pepper since she is always trying to fight with him and throwing things at him, like one time; Happy had gave her a pillow and made a comment about her mood swings which earned him a pillow slap to the face, you laughed silently but rescued him before she can muffle him with the pillow. It was a stressful week, considering Pepper was almost due and her having pain was not helping your cause or Happy’s.

The first two days Stephen would pop in and help you out, but then he had to stay in Kamar-Taj to take over for Wong meanwhile he visited the newly rebuild Sanctum in London. You missed his presence but would speak on the phone each night until you fell asleep and he would say goodbye before hanging up and getting some sleep as well. Both you and him were busy the whole week, but would still manage to give a call and stay talking as much as possible before going back to babysitting.

“Hmm, I know someone who groans,” Stephen says with a smirk when he knows your blushing through the phone,

“Careful Strange, don’t want to cause something we both know we won’t hesitate to finish,” 

“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea,”

You smirk and place the butter knife in the sink, “It doesn’t but.. I’m not at my house, so no,”

“Too bad, I was kinda getting excited already,” Stephen says with a sigh and gets up from bed to start his day,

You chuckle at him and continue to talk to him as you ate your brunch since it was almost 7pm. Once that was done you continued to talk until a loud yelling sound is heard from upstairs, making Stephen chuckle when he heard it over the phone.

“Duty calls?” He asks

“E-yup, gotta make sure Pepper doesn’t kill Happy. I’ll call you later,” 

“Okay, I love you,” 

“Love you too,” You say goodbye and end the call before getting up from the couch,

As you made your way up the stairs and down the hall you would hear Happy’s grunts and pleads as you got closer. Walking into Peppers bedroom you see Happy in a tight headlock and waving his arms in the air, panicking when he feels her tightening her hold on him. With a chuckle you quickly walk over to the bed and do your best to untangle Pepper and trying to calm her down.

“The hell did you do this time?” You ask after freeing Happy,

“All I wanted was her signature!” He says while rubbing his sore neck,

“Yeah! After you called me Hot Chilly Pepper!” Pepper yells at him and tosses him a small pillow,

You groan at them and quickly lead Happy out the room before things got more out of hand. Shutting the door behind him you roll up your sleeves from your grey Henley and walk back to Pepper who was trying to fix her pillow behind her back but groans when her back starts to give her pain. You quickly give her a hand and turn on the tv for her, after that you sat down on a chair near her bed and kept your focused on the screen. After a while your eyes started to grow heavy and you started to feel sleep taking over your body, Pepper however was already fast asleep. You got up from the chair and lowered the tv before leaving her room.

You made your way towards downstairs and into the kitchen where Happy was drinking a cup of whiskey and looking over some files. You ignored the brown liquid and the urge to drink so you walk around the island and open the freezer and pull out a hot pocket. After waiting for it to be ready you took out some apple juice that you had bought not too long ago. As the microwave beeped signaling your food is ready you took it out and place it on the table, bringing Happy’s attention to your plate. He looked at your plate then at you where you were pouring yourself a cup of apple juice, looking from your cup you Lock eyes with him and see how he shyly looks down at your plate.

“Do you want one?” You ask after pouring your drink, instead of answering he only nods his head in a embarrassed manner,

Chuckling at him you shove your plate towards him making him smile and quickly takes a bite of his food. You turn around to make yourself another and sit down across from him while you both eat and look over some files together.

“How’s Pep?” Happy asks while taking another bite of his Hot pocket,

“She’s calm now if that’s what your asking,”

Happy snorts, “Good, I don’t know if I’ll be able to last another headlock,”

You chuckle at him and take a sip of your juice while looking at him fiddle with some papers.

“You love her and you know it,” You say,

“Which is why I’m still here..,” Happy states and lowers the folder from his face to stare at you, “.. And I will never leave you girls,”

You smile at him and continue to eat. After you both finished you helped him with some stuff from his work and talked to him while doing so. Then the sound of a familiar voice comes in the room, making you smile wide and turning around in your seat to see Stephen standing in the doorway. With quick steps you rush to his arms and kiss him on the lips, making Happy roll his eyes but have a smile when he sees you smiling at the Sorcerer.

“What are you doing here!?” You tell Stephen with the biggest smile,

“Thought you would like a couple more hands. Even if mine aren’t that functional.” He says while waving his hands in the air,

You give him a cheeky smile before grabbing his hands and kiss them on the knuckles.

“Their perfect Steph,” He smiles and turns his head to greet Happy that was collecting his things from the table,

“I’ll take my shift. I believe there’s a new episode of ‘Jane the Virgin’ on Netflix,” Happy says with a smirk and leaves the kitchen, 

With a smile you intertwined your hands with Stephens and lead him towards the living room. Both of you sat on the couch and you turned on the tv, while Stephen scrolled through the movies you observed him. He had a black button-up on top of his white t-shirt, blue jeans with some black boots. He was dressed casual and looked comfortable and warm, you snuggled closer towards him when he finally puts ‘Home Alone’. Throughout the whole movie you would hold him closer or will have small conversations with him, or he’ll give you small pecks on your lips every once in a while.

However, one peck every five minutes led to a full make out session real fast. You straddled his lap at one point and continued kissing him, he plunges his tongue in your mouth when he gripped your ass and made you gasp. You groan in his mouth and let out small whimpers when he flicks his tongue every so often, making you melt more into him and letting him dominate over you. You then move your hips, making him groan lowly in his throat and grips you harder with his hands and only kisses you rougher. At one point you had completely forgotten where you were and started to undo his belt buckle with quick hands. Stephen also forgot that he was in Peppers.. aka Tony’s house and lets you undo him from his pants, he groans when he feels your warmth gripping his aching cock from his black briefs. 

You slowly stroked him from his underwear without breaking the kiss, but before you can pull out his harden erection from his briefs you managed to open open eye when you felt someone staring at you. You instinctively broke the kiss in a fast, drastic way when you see him standing there with a smirk and his hands crossed in front of him.

“Tony,” You say with a shaky harsh breath and without thought, 

Stephen sighs in frustration when you broke the kiss but quickly furrows his brows at you when he heard that name.

“What?” Stephen says and snaps his head behind the couch in a fast motion and only becoming more confused when he doesn’t see anything,

When he brought his confused eyes towards you he saw how you were breathing heavily and practically shaking on top of him. 

“Hey hey, it’s okay. It’s okay there’s no one there,” Stephen worriedly places his hands on either side of your face to try and calm you down before your panic gets worse,

You started to panic more when you realized what you said. You said ‘Tony’ loud and clear for Stephen to hear, not only was it a huge turn off but you let Stephen know that you saw him standing behind you guys. 

“Y/n, breathe.” Stephen says and makes your open wide eyes look into his galaxies, 

He inhaled in and out with you at a slow pace, by now his cock had gone soft but that didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was getting you calm and bringing you back from your panic attack. You close your eyes and inhale one last shaky breath, and still feeling his hands on either side of your face and feeling his thumb rubbing your cheek. You open your eyes and instantly lock eyes with him, but soon yours filled with tears and you collapsed on top of his chest as you cried silently.

“Shh it’s okay, it’s okay,” He comforts you as he rubs your back and leans his chin on your head,

You cried for a couple of minutes until Stephen repositioned his position on the couch and brought you back on top of him. You laid on him with your face on his chest and your fingers doing imaginary shapes on his white shirt. The tv was still playing, but that didn’t take away the little awkwardness in the room. You knew Stephen must have millions of questions that he wanted to ask you, but hoped he wouldn’t since you didn’t know how to answer them. As you were doing shapes on his chest your eyes glances back down towards his pants and see how they’re zipped back up, you felt guilty for ruining the mood and close your eyes when you start to feel embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” It was a whisper and you winced when it somewhat cracked,

Stephen stares at the ceiling like he had been doing ever since you two laid down, “For?”

“Ruining the mood,” He chuckles and kisses your head,

“It’s okay,” Awkward silence floods between you two and you were starting to feel uncomfortable in his hold, but before you can pull away he grips you harder against him and speaks out again, “Wanna tell me what happened,”

He feels how you got stiff and looks down at your head, he knows your trying to avoid his eyes so he continues to stare and hold you against him until you tell him the truth. You close your eyes and let a tear slip out, it wasn’t tears of anger or frustration. It was a tear from fear.

Gripping his shirt you finally speak one truth, “I saw him... I’ve been seeing him,” 

He stays quiet and you continue, “At first I thought it was just grief but.... I keep seeing him, and he talks to me,”

“What does he say,” Stephen couldn’t help but ask his doctor questions,

“Just what he normally says,” You say and play with a button from his button-up,

Stephen knits his brows together as he thinks about your words and asks his next question.

“How long?” You stay quiet to think about it, you honestly lost count of your first encounter with him but knew it was more than three months, so to not get him worried you lied.

“I don’t know, maybe two months,” Stephen stays quiet again but speaks out and causing you to furrow your brows when you know what he’s doing,

“I see him too. There’s times where I feel like he’s haunting me and making sure I’m keeping his promise,” 

You sigh against his chest, “You don’t have to pretend Stephen,” 

He chuckles, “I’m not,”

Silence floods in again but it’s not uncomfortable or awkward, it actually feels normal, that’s until someone decides to appear again.

“He’s not wrong,” Tony’s voice comes in the room and you freeze but quickly gather yourself to not make Stephen suspicious,

You ignore him as much as you can, and surprisingly he was gone. You relaxed in Stephens hold and closed your eyes when you feel sleep creeping it’s way to your body. Stephen must have felt you slipping away since he smiles and kisses your head before lowering the volume and closing his eyes as well. As you slept you didn’t have a nightmare, instead you dreamt of Tony’s smile and him looking down at someone in his arms with a tear slipping down his face. You couldn’t see yourself but you felt yourself smiling at him as well, you didn’t know why but you felt so much happiness in your chest and couldn’t help but feel like nothing in your life mattered at the moment. 

You didn’t care that you may be suffering from addiction, you didn’t care your slowly ruining your life, you didn’t care about anything except for this dream and moment. You wished it would come true, but then you knew it wasn’t since it felt so real and looked way too static and bright to be real. Soon enough you saw your dream becoming more realistic when you saw Pepper crying as well, except it was tears of joy it looked like she was more in pain than happy. She was on a bed, screaming for help and screaming for someone. Then you woke up and stared straight ahead at a black tv, you sigh and close your eyes when you feel Stephen pulling you closer towards him.

“Happy!” You jolt upwards and away from Stephen, making him do the same,

The both of you stare at each other with confused expressions and bolt out of the couch when you hear Peppers scream again. You ran up the stairs with Stephen hot on your heels and down the hall where the pained groans were coming from, as you pushed through the door you bumped into Happy who had a nervous sweaty face.

“What happened?!” You ask with harsh breaths,

He swallows thickly before speaking in a rush tone, “Its Pepper, she’s having her baby!” 

Your eyes widen and you felt adrenaline mixed with excitement and nervousness invading your veins. You quickly walked over to Pepper who was trying to breathe through her nose and seeing how she’s sweating more than you have, Happy quickly goes to her side and kneels in front of her while Stephen waits beside you. Happy does breathing exercises with her and looks at you with panicked eyes.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” You slap him with frustration,

“Pay attention to her!” You say but felt awful for slapping him,

“Here I got it,” Stephen says and quickly removes his button up and tossed it on the bed as he picked Pepper bridal style, “I’ll go get the car!” 

“No there’s no time!” He yells after Happy and turns to you, “Y/n get my sling ring from my pocket,” You did what you were told and retrieved the golden object from his jeans,

“Now put it on and make a portal,” You stare at him with wide eyes and feeling yourself getting overwhelmed with fear, you place the ring on your middle finger and index finger with shaky hands,

You bring your hand up just like Stephen has taught you and started making circles with your right hand, no sparks were lighting up and you were becoming more nervous with the sounds of pained groans that you sighed frustration.

“Y/n, breathe.” Stephen looks at you with comforting eyes, “Just like I taught you,”

You nod your head and breathe heavily and close your eyes as you thought about the hospital, well the nearest hospital. As you opened your eyes you saw the familiar orange sparks forming a circle and then right in front of you was the mop closet, you cheer in excitement and raise your hands in the air with pure happiness, Stephens stares at you with a proud smile along with admiration in his eyes.

“Hello! I’m having a baby here!” Pepper yells making you apologize before stepping in the portal and moving out of the way for Stephen and Happy to step in with a panicked Pepper in their arms,

The four of you walk out of the mop closet and finally make it the desk where the nurses are staring at you with wide eyes and panicked expressions as well. You explained how you wanted her to have a healthy and safe delivery, the nurse nodded his head and nervously handed you some papers to sign which you tossed in annoyance. 

“I don’t think so,” You say to him and looked at him with stern eyes even if your panicking on the inside,

The sound of a pain yell is heard from behind, you turn around to see Pepper screaming along with Happy since she was pulling his hair, Stephen however winced at the yell and only becomes more frustrated and annoyed with the hospitals lack of help.

”Christine!” Stephen tells in the room as loud as he can, 

Not less than a couple of seconds a women with brown hair peeks her head from the side of the door and she had her eyebrows knitted but quickly drops her clipboard and runs towards the four of you. She quickly explains to the nurse and brings a rolling chair towards you.

“Stephen this isn’t the delivery room,” Christine says with a panic voice,

“What?!” Pepper yells,

“I know but we don’t have time, please just help her!” Stephen says with pleading eyes,

Christine looks at him with unreadable eyes but nods her head frantically, “Okay,” She says to Stephen and looks at her co-workers, “Take her to the nearest available room and I’ll bring in a Obstetrician from wing A,”

They nod their head and wheel Pepper to the nearest room, the four of you follow but was stopped by one nurse she asked for family only but before you can answer Happy went to her side, Pepper called you as well and you ran towards her side instantly. Before you left you looked at Stephen with excitement and nervous eyes.

“You got this,” He says with a smile, you smile back before you left with Pepper through the doors,

Once you were out of vision Stephen let out a long sigh, he let a hand go down his face and into his hair. Without thought he called everyone at the base and told them the news, after he hung up he waited in the lobby and sat down while bouncing his leg up and down as he waited for everyone. He also called Wong and less than a second he was walking in the waiting room with casual clothes, surprisingly he was wearing casual clothes. Stephen hugs him which shockingly Wong returns, they both part away and sit down together as they wait for the rest of the Avengers to come and wait with them as the newest Stark member comes into the world.

*************  
“One more push!” The doctor says to Pepper as he gets ready in front of her,

She screams and grips your hand in a death grip as she pushes with all her force, you scream with her without thinking to try and give her more motivation. Happy however was panicking on the other side of of the bed while gripping onto Peppers left hand, then after a couple more pushes the sound of crying is heard in the room. You look over to the crying baby and felt something in your heart jump, you stared with wide eyes and a smile started to spread on your face along with tears building up when the doctor speaks.

“It’s a boy,” 

You chuckle and let the tears fall and hug Pepper who was also crying from relief and joy. The both of you hug and cry on each other’s arms as the nurses clean him, as you were busy crying the sound of a loud thud is heard, opening your eyes you look up and see Happy not standing in his usual spot. Then you see nurses rushing towards his side and bending down on the ground where he had passed out. You couldn’t help but let out a laugh with Pepper joining you. It was laughs and tears until the nurses hand Pepper her newborn son, she holds the now calm infant in her arms with so much care and lets the tears slowly slip down her face and smiles as she kisses her son on the head.

After helping Pepper with her pain and giving her water they leave the room to give her time with her new son. They also helped Happy into a nearby chair and gave him water once he had woken up, after everyone was now calm you left to find Stephen. Walking down the hall you bumped into Christine, you smile and hug her which she kindly returns and rubs your arm as you let another couple tears of joy slip out.

“Thank you,” You tell her and walk down the hall as she leads you where Stephen was waiting,

After walking down and doing a couple turns you finally turn the corner and see Stephen sitting on a chair with Wong, he had his hands clasped together with his chin on top of them and bouncing his leg up and down while staring straight ahead. As you walked more into the waiting room you saw the rest of the Avengers, including Fury was there and they were minding their business and talking to one another. Everyone got up from their seat in Sync once they saw you standing there, Stephen was the first one to walk towards you and gripped your hands together. You smiled at him and let out a chuckle while having tears slipping down your face.

“It’s a boy,” You say through a happy sob, Stephen had tears of his own and smiles widely at you before hugging you tightly, as you buried your face in his chest the rest of the team cheered and hugged each other as well, 

Sam and Rhodey however, had a disappointing look while they gave forty dollars to Shuri. They were excited about the newest Stark to join, but they were actually hoping for a girl. As you parted away from Stephen you went towards the rest of the team and hugged them one by one, as you finished hugging everyone you asked if they wanted to meet the newest member. They all accepted the invitation but agreed to wait until Pepper was well rested and would meet the little Stark at her home where she’ll be more comfortable. Nodding your head and saying goodbye you walked down the hall with Stephen and Wong, as you entered Peppers room Happy was standing near her bed while gently talking to the little newborn in Peppers arms.

Pepper smiled at you and Stephen, she then widens her smile when she sees the other Sorcerer walking behind Stephen. Wong greets her with a smile which makes you look at him with an offended look, you were actually jealous at Pepper when she’s the one who made Wong actually smile but shrugged it off with a chuckle. The five of you stared down at the newborn who was slowly opening his eyes, he had dark brown hair and bright piercing blue eyes. He looked more like Tony which made your heart jump and tears building once again, you couldn’t be more happier when he was another Tony.

“So What’s his name?” Happy asks while letting the toddler wrap his small hand in his finger,

Pepper brings her eyes towards you and smiles, you smile back and feel a tear roll down when you know what she had decided. You and her would talk about baby names ever since you found out about her pregnancy, there was a name you said that made her stay quiet and have tears building in her eyes. She then smiles at you and hugs you before nodding her while having tears spilling down her face.

“E.T,” Pepper says while she looks down at her son,

Stephen and you smile at the chosen name and hug Stephen tighter by his waist. He wraps an arm around your shoulders and kisses your temple as he stares at the new family. Happy however looked confused by the name and looks at her with furrowed brows.

“Like the movie?” He asks which makes everyone laugh in the room except for Wong, he was back to his serious faze as he stared at everyone,

“Ethan. Tony Stark. Happy,”You tell him with a chuckle,

He only makes an ‘o’ shape with his mouth and smiles apologetic to Pepper, she only shakes her head with a smile and looks back down to her son who was staring back at her with his beautiful blue orbs and smiles up at her while he places a small finger on her bottom lip. 

With another tear slipping down her face Pepper speaks with a huge smile, “Welcome home. Ethan,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! 💕💕  
> -  
> -  
> Stay tuned for more!! ⚠️⚠️


	16. Back to Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fury gives Y/n surprising news, how will she take these news? How will she explain them?

Three days had past since Peppers delivery and was now back at home. You and her couldn’t be more relaxed and free from being at the hospital three days straight. Stephen made sure to stay with you and would watch over you two, Wong went back to the Sanctum after the second day and Happy went back to the house to get started on the baby crib. You would tell Stephen to go back to the Sanctum, but he would only ignore you and would kiss you on the head instead. There would be times where little Ethan would cry in the night and you would help Pepper by calming him down, or sometimes Stephen would calm the toddler as best as he can.

There was one moment where you had woken up in the night from a nightmare, that you got up from the bed and from Stephens hold and had left the guest room. As you were walking down the hall towards the kitchen the sound of fussing was coming from Ethan’s room, slowly and quietly you let yourself in the room and saw how the toddler was stirring in his sleep and was starting to make small whimpers. You walked to his crib and quietly comforted him. You then picked him up from his crib and started rocking him back to sleep in your arms, as you were doing so the feeling of someone watching made you look up, only to see Stephen standing on the doorframe.

He smiles at you before pealing away from the door and goes to stand next to you. He kisses your temple as he wraps an arm around you, you smile and continue to rock Ethan in your arms with your amazing boyfriend beside you. Everything felt good, everything felt perfect with Stephen beside you and little Ethan in your arms. You never thought about wanting to build a family since you were not in a good position, you still aren’t but was somewhat having second thoughts. It actually scared you whenever you thought about wanting to start a family, not only would that scare you, you didn’t just want to start a family with anyone... you wanted to build one with Stephen.

That scared you since you didn’t know what he wanted for the future, or if he even wants to continue to have you in his future. Deep down you were afraid of losing Stephen, you were afraid of losing him when he finds out about your fathers past and your recent addiction. Your afraid of losing him and becoming worse, afraid of completely losing yourself into drugs and maybe possibly afraid of dying.

“You guys look great together,” You hear Peppers voice from the doorway which makes you and Stephen glance towards her,

Stephen smiles at her before hugging you tighter against him and smiling wider when he sees you blushing under the small nightlight. He was falling harder for you each day, and wouldn’t dare to hurt you in any way. From that moment, you knew you wanted a future with Stephen. 

—*

You were standing by the wall with Stephen next to you and his arm wrapped around your waist as you both observe the Avengers, who were all sitting on the couch and visiting the newest Stark. The sound of baby giggles fill the room which makes you chuckle and smile wider. Stephen smiles as well and pulls you closer towards him as he takes a sip from his drink. As you were standing with Stephen you placed your hand on top of his and intertwine them as you place your head on his shoulder. Ethan was giggling when Thor would give him tickles and carefully throwing him in the air, you watched with a smile on your face and feeling your chest warming up. After a while you see Fury making his way towards where your standing.

“Strange,” He greets Stephen with a nod,

“Fury,” Stephen replies back and takes another sip of his drink,

Fury then turns to you and nods his head towards the balcony, “Captain, can I have a word?” Without saying anything else Fury walks towards the sliding door,

You furrow your brows and look at Stephen who had the same expression, but you still removed yourself from his hold and walked out to the balcony with Fury. Stephen followed you with his eyes and as soon as you shut the door Bruce calls his name, making him join the rest of the Avengers at the couch. Before walking towards them he takes a curious glance where you are standing outside with Fury. Whenever Fury wanted to talk to someone in private everyone knows it must be confidential, which only made Stephen more curious.

As you stepped out into the balcony, you leaned on the rail and stared straight ahead into the night sky of New York. You weren’t going to lie, you were pretty nervous about being alone with Fury. You knew being alone with him meant something bad or something serious, or something you are only supposed to know.

“How’s Potts and the infant?” Fury says as he stands three feet away from you,

“They’re good,”

“How’s babysitting?” You chuckle with pure humor,

“It’s a drag but... I’m glad it’s me,” You say as you continue to stare straight ahead and smile to yourself when you remember some moments with little Ethan,

Fury looks at you and sees you smiling. He only nods his head in understanding and stays quiet. The sounds of cars, helicopters, birds, airplanes, and the chilly wind is heard around you. You were starting to get uncomfortable with Fury’s silence so you decided to break the tension that was coming off from him.

“So what’s up,” 

Fury inhales silently and pulls out a Manila folder from his coat and hands it to you, “Luka is back,”

You take the folder and open it without hesitation. There was pictures of him coming out of the same mansion where the fight took place, and some other photos of him walking with a silver briefcase. You saw how he also seemed to have at least one or two bodyguards behind, or in front of him in the photo.

“He keeps coming back in Italy.. we just don’t know why,” Fury says, “At first we thought he was there for his brother,”

“But that happened almost a week ago... and he’s not there anymore,” 

“That’s what we said. Unless he’s there for something else,” Fury says,

You stay quiet as you think and speak out once you have a thought.

“A deal?”

“Could be, but he’s been pretty quiet about it,” You glance back to the folder and try to observe anything in the photo or to at least try and get a clue,

“He’s also been seen coming out from this place almost five times already,” Fury points to one photo where it shows Luka walking out of a gate that’s covered by thick plants,

“Have you gone in?” You ask,

“No, it’s heavily guarded. By heavily I mean heavily,” He says as he looks at you,

“Like.. Wakanda heavily?” 

“Maybe better,” He says which makes you think about what can this mysterious place be and coming to a conclusion that it is not a fancy house, due to being covered in various plants and having heavy security,

“Well with that much protection it can’t be a mansion, so it has to be a laboratory or a warehouse,” You say as you look at the photos and thinking of what it can be,

“I’ll agree with laboratory. Nothing radioactive around there,”

“You’ve checked?” You ask and look up at him,

He nods his head, “I’ve sent a drone.. came back negative,”

You stayed quiet as you processed his reply and looked down at the folder. You knew if there wasn’t any radioactive around the mysterious place, then there was no way it was a warehouse filled with nuclear weapons. So your only option left was a secret laboratory in between those thick layers of plants. The more you thought of it the more it made sense. Who else would build a laboratory in the middle of nowhere with large plants blocking the view and having heavy security surrounding it and keeping a close eye on it.

“Okay,” You begin while closing the folder and face Fury to hand it to him, “I’ll see what else I can find about this,”

Without any questions Fury understands and takes the folder from your hands, “I’ll drop it off at your office,”

You nod your head and start to walk away but you stopped in your tracks once you saw through the sliding door how everyone was smiling at the new infant and having a good time, you then feel a wave of guilt when you think about telling the team they were going to be needed soon made you felt horrible for ruining the moment they are having. You didn’t want them to start worrying about Luka and making their night full of stress, so before walking back inside the home you turned back to Fury who was staring out into the bright city.

“Do me a favor... keep it away from them. At least for now,” You say glancing back into the home and having a small smile on your face when you see Stephen laughing with Bruce,

Fury looks inside the home and immediately knowing why you didn’t want anybody else to know. With a small nod Fury accepts your favor and stares back towards the city. As you were about to open the sliding door you hear Fury’s voice once again, if it wasn’t for him you would have already gave him attitude. You hated the fact that people would always have something else to say but would take forever to spit it out, and Fury is acting like those type of people right now. But with breathing exercises, you calmly looked back at the man.

“There is one other thing,” He says as he pulls another folder from his coat,

You honestly didn’t know how he can fit so many folders inside his coat, but then again it’s Fury. You glanced down at the folder and had to do a double take when you see something familiar when he opens it. At first you weren’t sure but when you saw your picture in the right corner you instantly feel your blood draining. You were beginning to feel scared at the fact of him looking over your file, deep down you hoped it wasn’t what you thought, but knew your secret was most likely going to burst here at the moment.

“Is that my file?” You ask calmly as you begin to walk towards him,

“Yes. And there’s a lot of interesting things about you,” Fury was staring at you the whole time but glances back towards the folder to read out to you, “Like, you coming from a wealthy family. First place in Girls Basketball.”

You stayed quiet as he read your file to you and was mentally praying to yourself that the file wouldn’t reveal the truth about your past. However, god wasn’t on your side tonight.

“Ohh this my personal favorite,” Fury reads with a sarcastic smile on his face, “Daughter of biggest Drug Lord, Mr. F/N F/L/N,” 

Fury closes the folder and stares at you with his eye, but you were doing your best to avoid it. This time, you did feel uncomfortable from his stare and you now understood how people feel whenever Fury looks at them the way he is doing it right now. Usually you wouldn’t pay attention to his hard gaze and you wouldn’t let his gaze get to you, but now that he has read the truth about you and where you come from, you felt vulnerable at the moment.

“Wanna explain that.. Captain,” You close your eyes from embarrassment and fear, what were you supposed to say? How are you supposed to explain it to him? Even when you would practice what to say incase this moment came, you would always freeze and not have words form in your mouth and every time you would think about it only made you a thousand times more nervous,

“It’s not what you think,” You start to say but know that’s exactly what criminals always start with—not that you are one— and want to slap yourself right there and then,

“Really? Because this whole folder says otherwise,” Fury shakes the grey folder in the air,

Taking a shaky breath you speak again, “My father retired a long time ago and I had nothing to do with it,”

Fury sighs and closes his eyes, “Y/N that’s what they all say,”

“I wasn’t apart of it Fury!” You raise your voice but quickly lower it to not let the rest of the team know or make them suspicious,

“Then how the hell do you know so much about Luka and his life’s work?”

“It’s called the internet, you should try it sometime,” As much as your heart was pounding from fear, you were beginning to have anger forming in your veins when Fury was accusing you of dealing with your father,

That was the worst thing anybody could say to you. Even if no one knows the truth, you still hated the fact of them comparing you to your father. From what you remember, you would always have little arguments with Caterina or Luka whenever they would mention your father in little conversations. You never liked the idea of your father being mentioned in anything that had to do with you, and you also didn’t like to hear his name in conversations because you were never proud of him and deep down you were disappointed to be his daughter. In all honesty, it didn’t matter if you were closer to him in your younger days because the more you grew the more you would understand his job, and sometimes you wished you weren’t his daughter whenever you would think about his lifestyle.

“I’m starting to think you are working for him,” Fury starts again making you scoff in pure disbelief,

“Please Fury, you’ve known me for years!”

“That’s where your wrong Captain. I Don’t actually know you,” 

You squint your eyes at him, “Fair point, but that doesn’t mean I’m working for the Orlov Brothers,”

Fury stays quiet for a moment before speaking out again when he remembers your previous sentence. 

“You said your father retired,” He begins “but how did he pass?”

You furrowed your brows and only felt anger taking over your whole body and feeling the fear you were feeling fading away instantly. How can he ask such a question? You thought to yourself but did your best to not snap at him and causing a huge commotion.

“He died of a heart attack Nick,” You reply with a hard cold tone,

“Is that the truth or is that another lie?” 

“He retired Nick,” You hiss his name and know he was seeing how you were starting to become annoyed and angry by his questions because you rarely ever call him by his surname,

With another tired sigh, Fury opens the folder once again and flips through a few pages before handing you the folder. You gave him a curiosity look but took it from his hands and once you saw it, you felt your heart shattering into pieces. You felt yourself exploding on the inside with so many emotions and not being fable to control the tears that start to form in your eyes.

“He was shot sixteen times in the chest,” Fury says, “He died at the hospital at four in the morning,”

In a photograph you saw how there was blood all over the ground, bullets everywhere, glass shattered on the ground and a few other bodies as well. What made the tears come out was the next photo you saw. On the hospital bed you saw your fathers bloody covered body with a bed sheet and seeing his eyes closed shut, that made your stomach swirl and only made the tears come out harder. You did your best to not break down crying in front of Fury, but that burning pit in your throat and stomach was only becoming stronger.

“Whatever they said kid, was a lie,” Fury says,

You sniff and wipe away the tear that rolls down your cheek. Pain was riding on your chest and making you feel like you can’t breathe, but you didn’t want to pay attention to that feeling or else you’ll start crying harder.

“So your saying my memories were erased?” 

“I’m saying you were manipulated into believing something else,” 

You look at Fury and then back towards the pictures, which of course you regret and harshly close the folder before tossing it towards Fury. You sniff and wiped away any tears that slipped out. You didn’t understand how you were manipulated into believing something else, especially if he was shot in the chest and especially since you were twelve when he passed away. It would have been extremely difficult for a doctor to convince a twelve year old that her father passed away and not shot to death, but then things slowly started to make sense. Your memories had been erased and you knew exactly how it happened. Someone from the Orlov family had gotten a hold on your fathers invention and used it on you the moment you were most likely alone.

“Listen kid... I can tell you didn’t know anything about.. this but... you have to-,”

“Yeah I know,” You interrupt him with tears rolling down your cheeks, “I know I have tell them,”

You look at him with tears on your face, but looked away while wiping them off with your sleeve, “I just need time,”

You began to walk towards the sliding door, but Fury’s voice stops you again.

“Listen kid I don’t want to put too much pressure on you.. but if you don’t tell them, I will,” With that Fury collects both folders and turns around to walk the opposite way,

You stayed standing outside with your hand on the door handle. Everything about you was being exposed and finally revealing itself out there. Everything was happening all at once, but you weren’t going to lie, deep down you somewhat felt relief that it was finally being said—even if you didn’t tell everyone— you still felt somewhat light from your chest. You didn’t know how you were planning on telling the rest of the team, especially Stephen. Nothing scares you more than losing Stephen from your life, and you know that would be the last straw to make you crack. The only reason why you haven’t snapped and fell deeper into the dark whole was because of Stephen. He’s the one who is actually holding you from falling deeper into your despair and holding your hand to not let you jump into it.

So the feeling of losing Stephen.. only makes your chest feel heavy and having pain wash over your entire chest. The thought of never having him close to you, beside you, or in your life makes you have unwanted thoughts invade your head. Thoughts that you wish will never come true, but knowing how you really are, you will be desperate to have that feeling of easy piece and comfortable silence. Deep down you know if it ever came down to you with a gun in one hand and the phone on the other, you knew you would chose the easier way and that thought will always scare you. Ever since your mother had passed away a small piece of you had left with her, and you were turning into someone that you weren’t, and now? Now that you found the truth about your fathers death, you don’t know what the hell is the truth anymore.

This whole time you thought your father had passed away from a sever heart attack and this whole time you believed he was “retired”, and you couldn’t help but feel so stupid for believing such a horrible lie. You felt guilty for believing it. Why? You didn’t know why. Everything was just so confusing for you at the moment and everything just seemed fake to you now that you know the truth. You had finally convinced yourself that you can’t get too close to someone or else they’ll just end up being... dead, and forgotten like the rest.

After being lost into your own thoughts and being mentally exhausted, you come back to reality. You were still outside in the balcony and hadn’t noticed it start to drizzle. Thankfully you would use that excuse if people decided to ask if you were crying. With a few sniffs and wiping away any remaining tears, you finally make your way inside the home. As you stepped back inside you instantly feel the warm temperature hitting your cold cheeks and shiver when you get chills throughout your whole body. Making your way more inside the home you noticed Stephen was nowhere to be seen, so you decided to take it as your opportunity and leave before you get ambushed by questions by him that you know you won’t be able to answer.

So with quiet steps you retrieve your coat from the kitchen and start to make your way towards the front door. You couldn’t see Stephen right now because you know he’ll want to know what Fury told you and you didn’t want to ruin his night by saying the younger Orlov is back. So you quickly walked towards the door to get in your car and drive off to the Avengers compound to start researching more about your lying father. However, once your hand touches the doorknob a voice settles behind you.

“Hey Y/n where you off to?” Happy says as he cleans baby vomit from his shirt,

You close your eyes and mentally curse at yourself for getting caught, but you turn around and somewhat tell him the truth.

“It’s nothing but something came up back at the compound,”

“Alright, want me to call Strange?”

“No!” You slightly raise your voice but quickly bring it to a normal tone, “I mean it’s nothing to worry about, I can handle it myself,”

Happy didn’t look too convincing but you honestly weren’t caring at the moment. All you wanted was to get down to the lab to start your research and to figure out what the hell exactly did your father invent that is being used in the wrong hands. Even if you were feeling guilty about having Stephen out of the book, you still didn’t want him to find out about the truth of your past because you were too scared to lose him, or seeing him go against you. So with a wave to Happy you walk down the steps and climb in your car before driving off towards the compound. You knew leaving Stephen alone was only going to bring him more curiosity about what’s going on, and you knew it would make things loose between you two, but you still didn’t have the courage to tell him the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to keep y’all waiting for another update 😩   
> But I’m back and ready to write more!! So stay tuned!!!


	17. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Stephen have a few things to talk about.

As soon as you arrived at the compound, you instantly walked through the glass doors and straight towards the stairs that led to the lab downstairs. However, as you made your way down the hall you had bumped into Groot who was busy playing on his video game to notice your presence. With a small apology you walk around him and continue to head down the stairs, but started hearing heavy footsteps behind you and making you turn around. Only to see the Guardian following you and walking beside you before giving you a small smile. Chuckling you continue to walk down the hall with Groot until you reached the lab doors. You went straight towards the table and started making holograms about your fathers death to try and figure out the truth, meanwhile Groot hopped onto a nearby desk and went back to his video game. It didn't take long for you to have the whole lab covered in different holograms with different information about your fathers death.

Some research will have the same cause of death while others said it was a cover up. You placed them in separate sides of the lab, one side of the same cause of death and the other side where people had different theories. The whole lab was full of holograms and the tables where covered in different kinds of folders from your fathers cartel in less than a second. You were actually surprised that it didn't take you long to find different types of articles about your fathers past and about his 'death' however, the more you tried to dig deep the more frustration you would feel since the articles would talk about the same thing, heart attack. As you were looking through some old files, the familiar sound of sparks makes you glance up from your pile of files and see the moment Stephen steps inside the lab.

"Hey, Happy told me you left," Stephen says as he walks further into the lab and glancing around the room that has variety of different holograms,

You curse at yourself when he starts to walk around the whole lab and scanning some holograms as he makes his way towards the table you are standing at.

"Yeah... something came up," You hesitate to say,

Stephen looks at you and nods his head in understanding, but knowing too well he was thinking about Luka. Which wasn't a lie, something did come up about him but at the moment you weren't researching about him, you were researching about your fathers death.

"Is that a cartel?" Stephen asks as he observes the photos on the table,

"It's a drug cartel," You correct him,

Stephen hums as he continues to observe the photos, "Luka's?"

You didn't want to say it, but knew you had to or else Fury would tell him and that is the last thing you want. You were the one who wanted to tell Stephen, no one else, but each time you wanted to tell him the words would always get trapped in your throat or would vanish from you. You never knew it would be this hard to speak about your fathers old life, especially to someone who trusts you and loves you. You knew how Stephen truly is and you hoped whenever you would actually tell him the story about your fathers past, you hoped Stephen would still love you. So with a shaky breath and hesitation you decided to cross the icy bridge.

"My fathers," You finally say but quickly brought your eyes to the desk when you feel Stephen looking at you,

"Your fathers?" Stephen repeats your answer in a question and furrowed his brows as he tries to process what you just said,

You slowly nod your head, "Yeah," You say in a small whisper and couldn't help but feel disappointed, embarrassed, guilty, and didn't have the courage to bring your eyes towards Stephens,

Fearing you would see pure hatred and anger in them. Although, you wanted to know what he was thinking, so with a shaky inhale you raise your eyes from the table to meet those ocean blues. Stephen was staring at you with pure confusion but was starting to gather everything in his head and starting to have thoughts along the side.

"Ohh," He says making you have irritation rising in your veins when you know that tone,

"What?" You say a little too harsh but didn't care anymore, everything was already falling apart and being exposed so why are you still going to feel scared?

"Nothing..," 

"No, it's not nothing. What?"

"Nothing it's... it's stupid," Stephen says as he places the photos back down on the table,

"I've been hearing stupid all day, care to join?" You were now feeling anger rising inside, all the fear had been vanished from your system and had been replaced by irritation and anger,

Stephen stares at you but drops his eyes down at the table, he couldn't look in your eyes when he says his next words. He didn't want to see the hurt or anger in them.

"It's just... it makes sense how you know.. Luka," Stephen finally says what he's been thinking,

He never wanted to say it out loud, let alone even think about it. In all honesty something inside of him wanted to believe those words, but he also didn't because he trusted you. Or did he? Everything was getting too confusing at the moment and all he could think about at the moment was you lying the whole time.

You scoff at him, "I already went through this with Fury, don't make me do it with you too,"

Stephen was staring down at the table, but then his eyes land on yours and they quickly turn from shame to hard piercing eyes. He knew you were getting irritated, but he was also getting irritated when all he wanted was to talk to you and try to understand things.

"I. Don't. Work. For him," You say each sentence with a hard tone and stared into his piercing blue eyes,

"I never said you did," 

"Well your thinking it," Stephen looked at you and tried to compose his breathing as well as his anger that wants to climb into his veins,

"You know what Stephen, you can think whatever the hell you want," You say after having a staring contest and started gathering every photo and information you found about your father,

Stephen watched as you gathered everything in your hands and left the room without another word. He closes his eyes as he lets a heavy sigh and lets a hand go to his eyes before letting his digits run through his hair. He hated fighting with you and hated seeing you angry with him, it's the last thing he could want for you but small little things that Stephen says makes you trigger. He doesn't say them to make you angry, he just says them because he's still trying to figure you out, figure out what you hide from him, trying to figure out if your still fine. Physically he can see that you are, but mentally is the part where Stephen struggles the most. No matter how much he tries to reach out for you, he feels you pulling away from him, running away from his help and that only makes Stephen more frustrated with you because he doesn't understand you.

Well he does, but when it comes to trying to help you he can't figure out why you don't want it. Why you run from it, why you avoid it at all times. However, Stephen never had the thought of giving up on you because he loves you and he wants you to be happy. Both physically and emotionally. No matter how long it takes, not matter how hard it is for you to open up to him, he never thought about leaving you alone. Never. Unless of course you tell him to.

As Stephen was massaging his forehead and trying to breathe, out of know where he felt something hit him in the back of the head, making him flinch at the sudden impact. Turning around with furrowed brows he sees Groot standing beside him with an angry expression and his branch arms on either side of his body. Stephen has never seen the Guardian this way— well except with Rocket— and he has never seen him glare at him the way he is doing right now. He may be small and growing, but Stephen knows the Guardian has enough strength to lift a hole building or bus if he had to, and Stephen wouldn't want to be on his bad side.

"I am Groot," The Guardian glares at him as he spoke,

Stephen rolls his eyes, "I'm just gonna give her space for now," Stephen may not speak Groot, but he he sure as hell knows what he's trying to say,

"I am Groot,"

"I won't hurt her," Stephen tells the Guardian with a sigh and sees how Groot glares at him before relaxing his facial expression and walks out the lab,

Stephen sighs and only lets his fingers run through his hair. Only if you weren't so stubborn and difficult to help, Stephen wouldn't have trouble saying his words the right way, but every time he tries to help you with his words they just seem to backfire on him. Every time. 

Stephen stayed in the lab for a few more seconds before walking up the stairs, hoping to see if you were around the living room but not having any luck. Sighing, Stephen opened a portal to the Sanctum to give you your space. If that's what you wanted then that's what he was going to give you, only for a few hours though. He stayed at the Sanctum and began tinkering with little things, like spells, reading other books, reading whatever that caught his eye and made sure to give you space. He didn't want to leave you alone, but he wanted to let you cool down before he went to see you. However after being in the library and trying to read the same damn spell over and over, Stephen closes the book with a frustrated sigh. Catching the other Sorcerers attention with raised eyebrows. Who eventually made him spill whatever was bugging him and telling him what was making him have that 'stupid look on your face' so Stephen spoke the truth.

Spoke how he's been trying to help you, but all you do is pull away from him, and how he felt that you were hiding something from him. Stephen felt like he spoke for eternity and finally feeling a small weight falling off his chest, as Stephen spoke about his troubles, Wong sat silently in his chair with his regular bored face. Before they knew each other, Stephen never knew when Wong was actually even paying attention to him or if he was just mentally judging him, but throughout the years Stephen understood his friend and his expressions. It was a pretty fun thing to do as well, trying to make the man laugh at least once and eventually succeeded when he caught the Sorcerer looking at cat videos one day and seeing tears rolling down the mans face from laughing too much.

"Have you asked Fury?" Wong randomly says making Stephen look at him with a blank face,

"I-I never thought of that actually," Wong only makes his face harder and crosses his arms in front of him, 

"Stephen you really are stupid sometimes," The Sorcerer glares at him but knows he's right, "Go ask him instead!"

Wong gets up from his chair as he shakes his head, leaving Stephen alone with his thoughts. He thought back to your guys' fight and remembering how you mentioned Fury's name, meaning you had spoke to him about something similar. Or maybe the exact same thing you both were arguing about. So after cleaning the library and placing the books back in their shelf, Stephen made a portal to the tower and walked down the hall towards Fury's office. If you weren't in the mood still to talk about things, then he was going to ask Fury and would make the man spill everything he knows or else he'll torture him, and everyone knows Stephen always wins when it comes to bargaining.

**

You were in Tony's office with stacks of papers everywhere, holograms around the room and the walls behind you were filled with different varieties of new information about Luka. You were currently standing and looking at a hologram that had your fathers body on a hospital bed with a white sheet covering him. You had lost count on how many articles you came across to and how many times you tried hacking into their system, trying to find out the truth about your fathers death. That's when you came across to another article that was published on the exact same date your father had past, it showed photos of your fathers bloody body, photos you haven't seen before and only broke your heart even more when you found out the truth. Your father didn't die of old age, Or heart attack, he died by many gun shots to the body and died instantly. Everything you knew, everything you thought you knew was all a lie, but everything was only becoming more and more confusing.

Why would they cover his story? Why would they make a lie about his death? Why would they kill him? However one question that wouldn't leave you alone would be the one you know would be difficult to find the answers for. One question you can't seem to shake off is, How does Tony fit in your life? How did you meet him? If you were an orphan, did they send you to an orphanage? Or did Tony find you sitting alone in the hospital? The part that scared you the most was not remembering how you met him or not remembering much after finding out that your father past away from a "heart attack" everything felt like a blur once you found out. You never paid attention to it since you knew it had happened a long time ago and you were fairly young to remember the details.

However, that only makes you more curious about it. You had came to a conclusion that your memories had been wiped away by someone, and that someone fed you a lie. A strong lie that made you believe it all these years. For some odd reason, you had this small speck of faith that maybe Fury was wrong, that whatever information he found was false and not true, although after hours of researching that faith immediately vanished. Only leaving you with a heaviness and pain riding on your chest, even if you weren't as close with him you still felt broken on the inside. More broken then you've already felt.

"Hey," The sound of the beautiful baritone voice makes you look up from the photos on the desk, instantly locking eyes with ocean blues,

Standing by the entrance of the office was Stephen, with his arms crossed in front of his chest and leaning on the doorway. He had this look on his face that you can't seem to read, but somewhat saw.... sorrow in his eyes.

"Hey," You softly say while you bring your eyes back down on the table,

Without any permission, Stephen walks in the office and gently closes the door behind him and making sure it's locked. 

"Fury told me everything," Stephen speaks again, making you look at him with a shocked expression but deep down you knew the Sorcerer would find out one way or another, 

"Y/n... I am so.. sorry," Stephen stared at you with such sorrow in his eyes and slowly takes a step to the desk, but keeping his distance for now,

You felt irritation starting to ride inside your veins, you didn't want to be looked as a broken person, didn't want to look weak, and that's exactly how Stephen is staring at you. You didn't need anybody's pity, you didn't want anyone to treat you as if you'll break any time, at any moment, but deep down you were already broken. You were already falling apart and were barely hanging on, you felt as if you had one hand hanging on to the rope, but feeling your grip weakening every time something happens. The only reason why you haven't surrendered to the pain and the burning demons in your head was because of Stephen. He was the one keeping you up, he was the one who would distract you from whatever you were dealing with and he was the one that would bring happiness into your broken chest. 

"Me too...," You softly smile at the man and see how he furrowed his brows so you continue with a soft chuckle, "He was an idiot,"

Then out of know where you feel something roll down your face. You haven't cried for your father for what seemed like.... years, why would you cry now? Just cause you found out about the truth? The truth was never meant to be easy. You tell yourself and wipe the tear with the back of your hand, you sniff and turn around to not let Stephen know that you are crying. You hated crying in front of people, you didn't want them to think that you were weak and didn't want them to see how broken you were. Even when you were younger, whenever something happened you didn't cry in front anybody, not even in front of your closes friends. Nobody, because that's the way you grew up and that's the way your father taught you.

"On the bright side.. I found more information on Luka," You clear your throat and move some papers around to try and find the newest research,

You couldn't concentrate, all you can think about was your fathers bloody body on the table. All those words they had described him as, like they knew who he actually was. Like they knew him better than you and that only got you more angry and more broken. You didn't notice that a few more tears were slipping down and didn't notice how Stephen was slowly walking towards you as you spoke in cracked voice. As you were giving him more information about Luka, you felt a soft hand on your back and another gently removing the folder from your hands. You close your eyes as the tears came out faster and the pain in your chest was getting stronger and stronger, slowly you felt Stephen shifting you until you practically wrapped your arms around his torso and buried your face in his chest. You did your best to not break apart in his arms. Again, and surprisingly you didn't.

You tightened your hold on the Sorcerer and buried your face more into his chest as you let the tears slip out. You inhaled shakily through your nose and feeling Stephen giving you comforting kisses on your head, and only tightening his hold on you as well. Both of you stayed in the same spot for a few minutes, just getting lost into each other's arms after not speaking or seeing each other for a few hours. It took everything in your power to not call him or tell him to come back, yes, you were angry, but you also wished he would have stopped you from walking away, but you also understood that he was giving you time of your own and that only makes you fall harder for him. Little did you know Stephen was doing his best to not chase after you and getting more anxious as the time would pass.

After staying in each others hold and once he felt you calm, Stephen places a hand on your face as he gently makes you look at him. He stares into your E/C eyes that have slightly turned red due to crying and only feeling more guilty for accusing you when he didn't know that whole truth. So to prove that he was extremely sorry he gently placed his lips on yours, softly kissing you with care. You closed your eyes once you felt his lips on yours and completely melted in the feeling. You missed him, you missed his smell and his lips on yours. You kissed back while still having a few tears slipping down, but you didn't care anymore because you had the love of your life right here with you and you weren't going to think about your fathers death anymore. At least not for now. Stephen was the one to pull away and you softly placed your hand on top of his that was on your face, you let him rest his head against yours as you both take in steady breaths.

"I love you," You whisper,

Stephen smiles, "I love you too,"

You smile and place your lips on his one last time and let your fingers get lost in his hair. The kiss wasn't long, it was only a few seconds before you both parted away. Knowing you must be exhausted from the night of taking care of Ethan and Pepper, along with having such news, Stephen kisses your forehead before intertwining his fingers with yours and leads you out the office and down the hall towards your room. Stephen didn't find it necessary to make a portal to your apartment or the Sanctum if you had your own room in the tower, so he decided to spend the night at the tower with you instead. As soon as you entered your room you removed your jeans and quickly climbed under the comforter. Doing a quick movement with his hand, Stephens casual clothes changed into a plain grey t-shirt and his black briefs. 

You smile as you see him making his way towards the bed and scoot closer once he's under the sheets. Instantly intertwining your hands with his and burying your face in his chest as he pecks your forehead and lets you draw circles on his clothed chest until you start to drift off. Stephen soon followed you. Both of you slept in each other's hold and neither of you had any disturbing dreams or any problems in the middle of the night, because both of you felt safe in each other's arms. Especially you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for updating so late, but luckily I already have two chapters being published today! 💕  
> Enjoy!!


	18. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How would the rest of the team feel about your secret?   
> -  
> Special guest finally comes back!! 💕

Weeks had passed by and the incident of your father was starting to become a huge weight on your shoulders when you knew you had to let the rest of the team know. So after a few talk sessions with Stephen and constant anxiety running in your chest, you finally told Fury to arrange a meeting with everyone and let them know it was mandatory. Obviously you were only panicking more and more, but thankfully Fury saw your nervousness and arranged the meeting once the team came back from their mission. That gave you time to prepare for the speech and also prepared yourself for whatever they would say to you. You were never the type to get scared during a speech or a meeting, but right now every courage and leadership vanished out of your body, leaving you with nothing and feeling completely naked. 

As you nervously waited for everyone to come back, you stayed in your room with Stephen. You sat crisscrossed on your bed with folders in front of you while Stephen laid on the bed and watched tv. Not once has he left your side and you were grateful for that, because you didn't know what you would be doing if he wasn't with you. Actually you did know, you would be pacing back and forth in your room as you thought about what the team would think of you, what their decision would be and if they would start hating you. You did do that for the first few times, but Stephen being the amazing boyfriend that he is grabbed your folders and gently led you on the bed, making you get distracted by finding more information on Luka. You've been at it for the past few hours, completely in the zone and had found a few more information on Luka. You found out he's been staying in Italy more than he has and has been caught coming out of the mysterious place, constantly.

You still didn't know what exactly that place was and you weren't going to be able to unless you send a drone without being detected. You knew Luka has sensors throughout the whole place, so you grabbed your drawing journal and started sketching a drone. Not just any drone, a Stark drone. A drone that will pass any sensors, a drone that will have advanced cameras, invisibility, and that would be able to release smaller drones to keep tabs and send you any new information everyday. You haven't invented anything new for a while, and now that you were sketching your idea you couldn't stop adding stuff into your idea, and you missed the feeling of creating something new. As you were drawing in your journal, Stephen was watching a movie on the tv but let his eyes land on you, having a smile starting to form on his face when he saw how your back was hunched and you were so engrossed on your work. 

He shifted his head on his arm to take a better look at you. You had his black Nirvana t-shirt, your hair wavy behind your back, and knew you had black panties on, only making his chest warm up at seeing your perfect form. It was around 11 am or almost going to hit afternoon and both of you were still in bed, but neither of you minded. As long as one of you were next to each other, everything is perfect. Stephen lets his free hand reach out towards your back and began making circles, keeping his eyes locked on you, seeing if you'll react to his small touches but seeing you were still keeping your focus on your book. However he did see a small smile tugging at the corner of your lips when he let his hand travel under his shirt and started making circles on your skin, he continued to let his hand travel throughout your entire back, gently massaging a few spots and completely forgets about his movie playing on the screen.

You still kept your focus on your journal when you felt Stephen massaging your back, and that only made you get deeper in your zone. You didn't know why but it helped. You then feel the bed move and knowing too well Stephen had moved to a sitting position, and then feeling him move a strand of your hair before softly pecking your neck. Goosebumps ran throughout your body from the sudden feeling and you only let a smile spread on your face when Stephen was showering your neck with small feathery kisses. You kept your eyes down at your journal, but your mind was paying attention to the feeling of his lips. Stephen kissed you at the back of your neck, under your jaw, under your ear, then brings his lips to your temple. He puts a strand behind your ear and you finally look into his galaxy eyes, seeing how their shining under the small sunshine thats peeking through your curtains. 

You smile at him before feeling his lips on yours. His hand travels at the back of your neck, letting his fingers massage your head as he kisses you. You hum against his lips at the feeling of his fingers in your hair, you were the one who would always play with his hair, but now that he's doing it to you, you realize now why he always hums against your lips and why he always puts his head on your lap on purpose. It's an amazing feeling and you were now going to make him return the favor. As you were kissing, Stephen manages to slip in his tongue in your mouth, making you smirk against his lips. You push the folders and journal out of the way... well more like push them off the bed as you grabbed Stephen from his neck and brought him down with you as you laid on the bed. He quickly settles between your legs and hovers above you as he continues to kiss you, not once have you two broke the kiss to catch a breather, you two were lost in each other's lips to even care about breathing. You let your legs rest on the either side of the Sorcerer, but you let a gasp escape your lips when you feel Stephen grab your leg from under your knee and slowly thrusted his hips. Making his growing member rub against your clothed core and only getting wetter by his teasing. 

Stephen smirks and only continues to thrust his hips against you, groaning against your lips with each thrust and feeling his member getting harder and harder with every second. You begin to move your hips with his and let your hand get tangled in his locks, pulling at them whenever Stephen rubs harder against you, ripping another groan from him. Stephen breaks the kiss and lets his lips travel to your neck again, leaving wet kisses on your skin and small bites where only he will be able to see, you kept your eyes closed at the amazing feeling of his lips and hips. He was pleasuring you from your neck and from your core without even trying, you panties were now soaked and you wanted nothing more than to feel his harden member inside of you. Both of you hadn't had time for each other due to taking care of Pepper and Ethan, usually both of you would be too tired to get aroused and sometimes work would come hard on both of you. You honestly didn't complain though, you were perfectly fine with just sleeping with Stephen and waking up in the morning with him, you didn't need anything sexual between you two. At all.

You feel goosebumps running through your body once again when you feel Stephens hands making their way under your shirt, but you let a groan escape your lips when you feel them cupping your breasts. He lavished your neck while having his hands on your breasts and having his hips slowly rubbing your core, everything was happening so slow, making you go crazy and wetter. You were losing your patience and you wanted to feel him inside of you or touching you were you mainly ached, so you let a hand grip his wrist and brought it down to your core, making him chuckle against your skin and feeling it become hot under his lips. Knowing too well that you are madly blushing with your actions. So with a small kiss on your neck Stephen does small circles on your stomach before going under your panties, however, before he can even get under the hem of your underwear your door swings open.

You freeze and thinking the worse. Thinking that one of the teams have caught you in the middle of the action, worse. You thought Fury was the one standing in the entrance of your room, making you blush even more and feeling Stephen slowly bring his head from your neck, but seeing how he furrows his eyes and gives an annoyed sigh. Moving to the side to see who it was that caught you two almost having sex, you somewhat relax when you don't see anyone you know, except for the Cloak floating in the entrance while it awkwardly floats there. You softly chuckle at it but still feel your face heating up when it caught you having a heated session with its master.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Stephen snarls at his relic but doesn't bother to remove himself from you, instead he stays hovering over you as if blocking you from the relic,

The Cloak shrugs it's collar and remains floating in its spot until his master speaks again, ignoring his rude tone.

"What do you want Levi?" The Cloak only points outside your room as if that helps the Sorcerer understand, but you knew what the relic was referring to,

"Are they back?" You ask and feel your heart thumping when the Cloak nods its collar up and down,

You sigh and meet your eyes with Stephen, seeing how he only stares at you with comfort. You sigh again before looking to his side to let the relic know you'll be ready in a minute, but still see how the relic stays standing in its spot making you chuckle at it.

"It means get out buddy," Stephen looks back at his relic and gives it a raised eyebrow, making the Cloak leave your room with its flapping noise,

You chuckle and lightly slap the Sorcerers shoulder for being rude with his relic, only making Stephen look at you with furrowed brows before having a smile spreading on his face. You let your hand rest on his cheek and slowly let it get tangled with his grey wings, you stare into his eyes and trying to get lost in them to ease the nervousness that is creeping up in your stomach. Stephen knows your getting nervous and only looks at you with serious eyes as he speaks.

"You sure your ready?" You sigh heavily before slowly nodding your head, Stephen nods at you before bending down to connect his lips with yours one last time, "No matter what happens, I'll always be by your side remember that,"

You smile at the Sorcerer and nod your head, "Till the end of time," 

"Even then," You look into his eyes as yours start to become glossy, you couldn't believe Stephen had said those words, you felt as if those words meant he wanted something more with you and you couldn't help the tear that escaped your eyes as you brought his face with yours,

It wasn't exactly a proposal, but it didn't need to be a proposal for him to want a future with you. You kissed him as if there was no tomorrow and he held you as if you'd disappear from him, but eventually both of you pulled away and gathered your breaths. 

"Lets go," Stephen softly says and gets up from the bed before kissing your forehead,

***

Everyone stood quiet as you spoke,  and neither of them said a word when you finished, making you tighten your hold on Stephens hand. Which he only squeezes back, letting you know he was right beside you and everything will be okay. You had been standing in front of everyone for at least a few minutes and you told them everything about your past, but you still felt anxiety on your chest when everyone stood quiet. Your heart was racing with each second that past and the silence wasn't making you feel any better. You looked around the room to see everyone's reaction, fearing you'll see hatred in their eyes, only except everyone were looking at each other or down at the table. It looked they were trying to figure out what to say or what they should all agree on, and that was only making your anxiety spike in your chest. 

You stayed standing in front of the room with Stephen beside you, holding his hand with a death grip. Bruce, Sam, Natasha, Rhodey, Clint, Rocket and Groot were on the table. Quill, Mantis, Drax, and Hills were standing behind them while Fury stood in the doorway of the room. Ross wasn't able to attend the meeting since he was busy with other stuff, and Scott wasn't available at the moment since he's on vacation with Cassie. You didn't really care about Scotts opinion, knowing too well he'll support you through anything, however, Ross was the only one who was going to give you a hard time and you knew things will only get more complicated between you two, but you didn't care about him at the moment. Right now all you cared about everyone's choice, everyone who was in the room.

"So what's the problem?" Rocket was the first to speak, making everyone look at him with furrowed brows, but Bruce only had a small smile on his face,

"Dude," Sam looks at him with a bitch face,

"What?"

"I am Groot?"

"I know right, I thought it was going to be worse," Quill flicks Rockets ear, making the Guardian glare at his partner,

"I am having the feeling that it is bad," Drax joins the conversation,

Sam scoffs and looks at the Guardians, "Wow,"

You let your eyes fall on each and everyone that are slowly beginning to argue with each other. Quill and Rocket obviously about not hitting one another, Sam and Drax about the "feeling" and Groot who is only staring at his partners debate. You then land your eyes on Bruce who had a hand on his cheek with an annoyed expression, but notice how he is staring at you and see how he gives you a small smile before getting up from his seat and clapping his hands. Making everyone shut up and look at him.

"Listen guys, doesn't matter if it's bad or good. Recent or past, as long as she wasn't apart of it then that's all that matters," Bruce turns and looks at you with the same smile, "And I know she wasn't,"

You softly smile back at him and slightly feel less weight on your chest and only feel relief wash over your whole body. You knew Bruce wasn't going to be difficult and you knew right away he would have believed you, although you still couldn't help but feel relieved when he was on your side and having your back. Along with Stephen.

The sound of clapping breaks the moment. Of course, Rocket.

"Great! Who's hungry? Cause all that monster slime made me crave something greasy," The Guardian hops off the table and starts to walk out the room while Quill rolls his eyes,

"I'm guessing everyone agrees with Banner?" Sam asks with confused eyes,

"Does anybody object?" Fury asks making the whole room quiet until Quill speaks out,

"Hell no!" 

"Then it's settled," Fury nods his head while looking at you and pats you on the shoulder for comfort,

You felt relieved when everyone wasn't against you, instead they actually knew how you felt, how it must have been tough for you and how you struggled when your father past. Obviously you didn't tell them how exactly he died since you were still trying to cope with his actual death, but it won't be long before you are able to spill it. However, the constant feeling of stress was still riding on your chest. Not everyone was there, not everyone has heard your story. By everyone you meant, Thor, Scott, Ross, and even Peter. Although you were going to tell him as soon as he came back home, without any hesitation.

"Wait, were still missing someone else," You tell Fury before he leaves through the door,

Fury turns around with his hands behind his back, "I already spoke to Danvers, she understands,"

You shake your head and slightly grip Stephens hand, "I'm not talking about Danvers,"

Stephen knew who you were referring and only lets his hand that was tangled with yours wrap around your waist, pulling towards him as he stares at Fury as well. Waiting for the mans response and having an argument ready just in case. Thankfully Fury didn't take long to understand who you were referring to and nods his head before speaking in a strong confident tone.

"Let me deal with the General, and you deal with finding out about that place in the woods as well with the younger Orlov brother," You nod your head, "Goes for everybody! Start packing, we're going to Italy in a few weeks,"

 

 

 

 

********

 

 

~Three days Later~

 

 

"Y/n!" Peter carefully runs through people and apologizes to a few of them when he bumps into them, but eventually makes it to your arms,

You hug him with all your strength and have a smile spreading on your face when you finally have Peter back in your arms safe and sound. As you were hugging Peter, Happy had gave the kid a pat on his shoulder before grabbing his bags that were tossed on the ground. You had volunteered to pick him up at the airport meanwhile everyone back at the tower finished decorating the Welcome Home party. It wasn't something big, just family and friends, and no coworkers. Stephen was back at the Sanctum checking on a few things before meeting you back at the tower. You pulled away from Peter with a smile and see how Ned is staring at you with a wide smile, you also chuckle when he slowly spreads his arms wide in the air. You playfully roll your eyes before hugging the teen as well, and slightly hear Ned give a happy smile as he had his arms wrapped around you. Peter only gives a disturbed expression when he sees his best friend closing his eyes and knowing too well he is fulfilling his dream right now.

Peter eventually managed to peel Ned away from you, but you only chuckle as you start to walk out the airport and into the black SUV that was waiting outside. After dropping off Ned at his house, Happy drove off towards the compound with low music playing in the car. The whole car ride Peter wouldn't stop talking, excitedly explain his entire trip without missing any detail, making Happy get irritated and eventually began raising his window that separated the seats. Although before he can fully shut the window you reach with your hand to slap him on the head when Peter wasn't looking, and giving him a stern look. If you were going to be stuck in the car with Peter for a few hours meanwhile he rants about his trip, then Happy was not gonna have a choice but to join. That's just the way it is with you. After a few minutes past, Peter had finished telling his story about finally realizing his feelings for MJ and finally gathered the strength to ask her on a date—which went well by the way. 

It's now or never.  

You think to yourself and with a low inhale you finally speak to Peter. Telling him about your crazy trip meanwhile he was gone having his amazing trip. Happy had gave you privacy by raising the window, which you were thankful for. The whole time you spoke, Peter stayed quiet, processing every information you were giving him and sometimes having questions. You answered them truthfully before going back to explaining your fathers life's work. The whole time you spoke, Peter remained quiet and only gave his attention to you. Seeing how you sometimes stare anywhere other than his eyes as you spoke about your father, would hear how your voice slightly shakes probably due to nervousness of fear, maybe both. However once you stopped, Peter only grips your hand when he sees tears building in your eyes and knowing too well it must be hard for you to speak about it.

Peter understand how hard it is to speak about a loved one or someone you were close to. It took Peter a few months to be able to speak about his Uncle, and another few months to speak about Tony. It still is hard for him to speak about his mentor, but even if he feels that huge lump in his throat, he pushes it back as much as he can before continuing his story about the man he admired, the man he saw as his hero, and the man who believed him when no one else could or would. With a few tears escaping from your eyes, you wipe them away with your free hand before looking at Peter for the first time since you started speaking. You didn't see any anger, any hatred, just pure comfort and tender in his brown orbs and only feeling your self being lifted off a pile of rocks that have been on top of you for what seemed like a long time. Obviously there was still weight on your chest, but you believed it was less than before.

Without another word, Peter hugs you tightly and only says comforting things in your ear, making you smile and only hugging him tighter as well. Both of you stayed in each other's arms until you pulled away when Happy began rolling down his window. The rest of the car ride was in comfortable silence, except for the music softly playing in the car and Peter vastly asleep in his side of the seat. Being in a plane for hours sure does bring jet lag and it's even worse when you don't get enough sleep with kids kicking your seat or people being to annoying. So with a smile you let Peter sleep meanwhile you arrived at the tower and texted everyone to get ready. You also texted Stephen, letting him know you were almost home and receiving a message right away saying he'll be there before you know it.

After a few minutes of being on your phone, you began to feel your eyes grow heavy as well. The past three days have been like hell, since you were still trying to cope with your fathers actual death and trying to find more ways to enter Luka's hiding place in the woods , as well with building your drone. Luckily you already knew how and where everything will be placed, making your job a thousand times easier, but still had days where you wouldn't sleep which of course would bring you to your worse thoughts. You haven't really gotten any attacks, but you still have those withdraws of not having a drink and a hit. They weren't as strong as the beginning, but they were still hard to ignore and you would bury yourself in more work to not think about the burning feeling your throat or stomach. You haven't had a drink in a while, let alone snorting something and you also haven't really seen Tony appearing out of thin air. Making you more relaxed, but deep down you wished he would appear just to see him again.

That of course happens since you think about him and once he's there he doesn't leave until the very next day. Weird I know, but apparently that's how your brain works for some odd reason.  
Happy gently shoves you to wake up, with a sleepy vision you realized you were in the garage of the tower and instantly remembered what waits upstairs. So with a soft tone you call Peters name as well as shaking his shoulder. He furrows his brows and removes his headphones once he peels away from the window. He yawns before climbing out the SUV, thanking Happy for grabbing his bags and takes them from the man before following you into the elevator. You chuckle at him when you see him leaning on the wall while yawning and only smirking to yourself when you know he'll wake up once he steps outside the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you liked this chapter 😊  
> And yes the chapters will be a little bit shorter now since I want to keep posting at least every twice or once a month 💕  
> -  
> So stay tuned for the next chapter!! ⚠️


	19. Private Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a rough morning, possibly a rough Birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning ⚠️: Angst/ Fluff

A week later and it was finally the day of your birth. Usually it was one of the best days ever to wake up to, but now that you woke up in your apartment. You stay in bed while staring up at the ceiling, letting your thoughts go deep and picking out the memories you had on this day with your father, mother, and finally, Tony. While doing so, you let your hand play with your necklace that Stephen had gave you. One you never take off— after Stephen told you not to of course. He explained why a few days later when he saw you without it and literally made a portal to your room just to grab it off your desk. You just chuckle as he places the small necklace around your neck and smile at him as he hugs you towards his chest. With a small whisper next to your ear that's all he needed to say to make you turn around give him a loving kiss on his lips.

'It keeps you safe' 

You knew exactly what those words meant and you knew by 'it', you knew he meant him. The necklace was protected by a spell. A spell that Stephen only knows and is the only one able to track down. He had explained to you the necklace had a tracking spell just in case of an emergency and he could be there in less than a second, you only chuckle at his protectiveness but on the inside you were melting with it. You didn't mind if Stephen wanted to keep a close on you, all he wanted was to keep you safe and you couldn't help but love him even more. Each day that passes by you seemed to be falling for him more and more, and each time you realize it, you only smile like an idiot.

The rumble of a helicopter flying past your apartment broke you out of your thoughts, but you still remained laying down on your bed, eyes up at the ceiling and fingers still fidgeting with your necklace. This was your (age) birthday without both your parents and you had gotten used to it, however, this was your first birthday without Tony around and that only brought pain as well as a heavy chest. Usually he would have bursted into your room or apartment with loud Mexican birthday music playing in the background and only smiling while he sings along to the song— even if he doesn't speak Spanish he still manages to sing along. Every birthday you had it would begin the same way, and every time it happened you would groan before tossing him a pillow or you'd try muffling his horrible singing with the pillow, but deep down you would always be glad for his morning surprises. Deep down you knew you were grateful to have someone like Tony to sing you Mexican birthday songs at almost five in the morning and bringing you an enormous teddy bear almost every birthday as a joke, but secretly thanked him for the gift.

No matter how annoying Tony would be almost every birthday or any day in general, you were grateful to have him in your life and showing you the ropes to making a better choice in life. Growing up without a father and mother would have truly turned you into something ugly, but thankfully Tony was there to help raise and guide you through it all. Through all the rough patches and only making you feel as a whole little by little. 

The feeling of something jumping on your bed makes you turn your head and seeing Zeus wagging his tail while staring at you with the biggest smile on his face, making you chuckle at him. Taking it as a good sign, Zeus quickly closes the gap and starts to lick your face while having his entire body on yours, making you burst out into a fit of giggles. You tried hiding your face underneath his thick coat— which you make a mental note that you need to trim it— but only get licked still without any hesitation. You tried pushing him off you, but before you can free yourself from the covers Zeus jumps back on top of you and continues with his slobber kisses. However, after somewhat feeling something rolling on the side of your lip that was your cue to officially stop his kisses. Grabbing his collar and gently pushing him away from you with your arm, you free yourself from underneath him and quickly stand in front of your bed. As you stood in front of your bed and Zeus, you can feel your hair standing in various places and knowing too well if Zeus was a human he would have been laughing at your form.

You give a breathy chuckle at Zeus who was now sitting on your bed and still wagging his tail at you with his mouth opened wide. You roll your eyes and wipe the saliva off your face with your shirt before scratching the creature behind his ear and smiling when he closes his eyes at the amazing contact. After a twenty second massage at the back of the ear, you give a loud sigh as you stare straight ahead of your dark room— only having the small light peaking through your curtains— and going back to your thoughts of Tony. Wishing he would have bursted right through your door with music playing on his Stark phone and a huge bear in his hands, but he didn't. Instead your bedroom door remained closed and no music was playing, except of the panting noises coming from Zeus.

'Happy Birthday kid,' 

You clench your jaw at his voice. It had been a while since you've last saw him. You were use to his random appearances and you hardly ever jumped at his sneaky remarks now. You turn around and see Tony leaning on the doorway to your bathroom and having his arms crossed in front of him, as well as having a small smile on his face. He had his usual clothing, but this time you realized he had a AC/DC shirt with jeans and sneakers instead of his usual formal suit, you haven't thought of him in a while due to being too busy with work at the tower and trying to manage your drinking problem that has slowly been coming back to your life. Lately you have been sneaking a few alcohol into your system before and after bed. Even if Stephen is around, you manage to take a few sips from the bottle before walking back to the couch with Stephen. You did feel guilty for doing it and knowing too well you were starting to go back into your addiction, but after your fathers true death and the pile of work at the tower has been stressing you so much.

So of course you couldn't help but have strong rum running through your veins and making your chest warm. Deep down— no matter how much you hate it— you missed the burning feeling of it's alcohol running down your throat and you missed its hard taste. No matter how much you try to ignore the feeling, that feeling will always be there and haunt you for the rest of your life.

You stare at "Tony" and give him a soft scoff before walking towards your window and pull the curtains open, revealing brightness into your dark room. The shining light makes you squint your eyes, but you give a tired sigh when you see heavy rain falling from the skies of New York. From the corner of your eye you can still see Tony's form standing by the doorway, but when you bring your eyes towards his way, he's gone the moment you thought of looking at him once more. You clench your jaw when you feel your chest becoming heavy again, if only you weren't thinking of him then you wouldn't have been feeling this way, but of course you were your own enemy in your head. With a low sigh, you begin to do your normal morning routines. Once you brushed your teeth and washed your tired face, you walked down your steps and towards your kitchen.

Everything was too quiet and still at your apartment— besides the sirens outside in the city and small sounds of rain. Of course it would rain on your birthday, it knew you were going to have a bad birthday so it decided to make it even more depressing by adding dark clouds and heavy amounts of water dropping everywhere. After a while of staring at your foggy window, you start to rummage around your refrigerator for any food, but only giving an annoyed sigh when you don't have anything that catches your eye. Seeing a gallon of milk at the very end of your fridge, you pull it out and place it on the island before going to your cabinets and pulling out a random cereal. Pouring Fruity Pebbles in a bowl, you sit on the island as you eat your 'birthday breakfast' and get lost in your thoughts again. Thinking once again about Tony and only feeling your chest getting tighter as you remember your birthday memories with him and remembering how he would always have his famous 'Stark Special' waiting for you every morning on every birthday. You knew this was going to be a hard day to get by, well..at least that's how you saw it. 

Stephen has been in the Sanctum the past whole week and trying to fix a problem with Wong, he's been busy with his sorcery stuff that he wasn't available most of the time. He would manage to give you a call whenever he can, but other times just wasn't a good time and you understood. However, you wished you could have woken up next to him on this day, and knowing too well it would feel a thousand times better knowing he was by your side on your birthday. But he wasn't. The rest of the gang were also busy trying to keep the world safe from other intruders, Peter was busy with school and being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, that they didn't have time to actually spend the day with you. You knew this day would come and will continue to come for the rest of your life, but you didn't know it would be this hard. You didn't know it would sting this bad, didn't know it would make you feel so low. Lower than you've ever felt, and make you feel like everything around you would soon die as well. 

As if Zeus read your negative thoughts, he whines as he places his paw on your thigh and looks at you while wagging his tail. You look at him and give him a small smile before petting him on his head. Grabbing your bowl, you toss it in the sink and walk back upstairs to take a quick shower. By the time you got out it stopped raining, but knew it would be a cold night. So you decided on a grey sweater, with a white plain t-shirt underneath, black jeans and white converse on your feet. As you got ready for the day, you checked your phone for any messages or any missed calls, only to see an empty screen and the wallpaper of a Happy Zeus. You somewhat felt a small pang of hurt in your chest when Stephen hasn't called you or messaged you, but you also told yourself he was busy. Plus, you were going over to the Sanctum and he knew this as well, maybe he wanted to say it in person. Either way, you still couldn't help feeling that way. Before visiting the Sanctum, you stopped by the market to grab a few groceries and more food for Zeus, after driving back another hour to your apartment and another hour back, you are finally parking outside the familiar building.

Opening the heavy door, you are met with the familiar scent of the Sanctum. Different kinds of smells fills the entire building, making you feel relaxed and comfortable. You never knew what exactly it was that made the building smell that way or how to ever describe it to anyone else, but you knew you loved the feeling it gave you. Shutting the door, you look around for either Sorcerer, but knew they would be in the library. While making your way down to the library you accidentally bump into Wong who was coming out of a room with a book in front of him, you apologize with a smile and he only nods his head. He begins to walk down the hall and you only follow him, having a feeling he was going to the same place as you. As you walked behind the man, he suddenly stops and turns around with a softer expression and having a small.... smile? On his lips?

"Happy Birthday Y/n," He says it in the most soothing tone you could possibly ever hear from him, 

You softly chuckle at him and shyly look down at the floor, "Thank you, Wong,"

He nods his head and continues walking down the hall with you following behind. After a few turns, you enter the familiar library with books on either side of the room and straight ahead was your boyfriend. He had his eyebrows tightly furrowed while glaring down at the book in front of him and faintly mumbling something as he read along. You smile when you finally see him after a whole week of not being able to. You make your way towards him, but he didn't notice your presence until he felt your arms wrapping around and feeling your lips on the side of his temple. He doesn't react much to the kiss, but he does greet you with a small grunt and continues to glare down at the book.

"Hey," You tell him as you glance down at the book he's reading and realizing it's in a different language,

You couldn't really understand what it said— most of it—, but you knew what language it was written in. Russian. Stephen would glance at the pages and would write something on his piece of paper and then back again to the book in front of him. You saw how his eyebrows were tightly furrowed and how he would give small sighs whenever he would get stuck on a sentence, you tried easing off his tension by lightly massaging his shoulders— which was obvious he needed one— and staring down at the book to give it a shot and try to make Stephens job a little more easier. You barely understood the first few sentences of the book, so you glanced at Stephens translation on the paper that read 'Coal, sea water, bones of a cat, and salt' it didn't take long for you to understand that the list were ingredients for a spell and you glared at Wong when he made his way to the table.

"Seriously Wong, another spell gone wrong?" You ask which makes the Sorcerer give you his famous bitch face and places a few books on the table,

"Technically it was the students fault. I warned him it was a tricky one," The Sorcerer spoke as he scanned a brown chained book and set it aside when it wasn't what he was looking for,

After explaining to you what exactly happened, you didn't feel surprised when things like this happened to them. You honestly have gotten so use to their magic you eventually hardly ever got surprised by their problems, but you still try and give them a hand with translating difficult words. As you spoke with Wong, Stephen remained quiet and continued reading the book. From the corner of your eye you would see how he would glance at you two with annoyance whenever you were speaking too loud with the other Sorcerer. At first you thought it was jealousy, but you knew Stephen would never get jealous about Wong and he knew Wong respected your guys' relationship. It was only then that you knew why Stephen was being to quiet, he was trying to concentrate and was most likely in a mood. You hated seeing him this way, but you can only imagine how he feels when your also in a mood and you tried your best to not take things personal.

"Well what kind of spell?" You ask still standing by Stephens side,

Wong looks up from the book and looks back down as he answers your question, "Aging spell,"

Yikes.

No wonder Stephen is nose deep in the book. They probably had little time to reverse the spell and who the hell knows how bad this student is. Who knew if the spell is quicker than it seems and who knows if there is a way to reveres it, then again it is magic. Everything always has to have a solution right? 

"Oh wow.. well what can I do to help?" 

"Nothing your useless," 

Ouch. 

It was the first time you heard his voice since you came to the Sanctum and instead of greeting you the way he always does he says that instead. Hell! He didn't even say Happy Birthday to you and that hurt even more. You tried not taking it personal, but you were already having a shitty day and Stephens words just officially made your day ten times worse. As soon as those words left the Doctors mouth, Wong looks up from his book and gives Stephen the biggest glare he could possibly give, and then lets his eyes rest on you. He saw how your face turned to hurt to anger in less than a second. If you were going to slap or punch Stephen, Wong wouldn't stop you. In all honesty, you would be doing him a favor for hitting him, this whole week Stephen has been a complete dick to everyone who stepped foot in the Sanctum. Lucky for him Stephen hasn't took his frustration out on him, other wise the man would be stuck in the mirror dimension for a few hours, possibly days.

Although there was one time and only one time where Stephen did take his frustrations out on Wong. He didn't mean to, just like he doesn't mean to take it out on students, but that one time Stephen was too frustrated with something and ended shoving Wong for some odd reason he can't remember. As soon as Stephen saw his best friend on the floor, he instantly regretted it but wasn't able to apologize since he was sent flying until he collided with a wall. That knocked the wind out of him and was possibly the worst feeling any human can experience. Ever since then, Stephen made sure to be careful with his words and actions around Wong. Not because he was afraid of him, but because he knows Wong knows more than him and Stephen knows whatever he'll do would be worse than being thrown in the air.

"Screw you Stephen," You scoff and walk away from him,

That made the Sorcerer look up from the book for the first time. He hadn't realized what he said, but once he backtracked his words he regretted them.

"Wait I didn't mean it like that," Stephen follows you with his eyes,

You stop and look at him, "I'm sure you didn't, I'll see you at the party,"

"What party?" Stephen furrowed his brows and looked at you to Wong who was doing his best to not be apart of your drama, but Stephen only sees how the other Sorcerer shakes his head and rolls his eyes without looking up from his book,

You chuckle sarcastically, "Of course you don't remember," you look at him straight in his blue orbs and speak again, "My birthday party," 

You saw how Stephens whole expression turned from confusion to realization quicker than a fly. Guilt was soon being visualized on his face and his eyes had gone softer as he stared at you. You knew you shouldn't be taking his words too personal, but this day wasn't going as great and everything just seemed to be ticking you and getting under your skin. Saying your farewells to Wong you begin to walk out the library and continue to walk out even when you hear Stephen calling after you. Stephen sighs loudly and puts a hand on the bridge of his nose. He had been so focused on trying to reverse the spell that he completely forgot about this day, not only did he forget he knew it was going to be a hard one for you and he mentally curses at himself for being such a dick. He never had the biggest urge slap himself, but to his luck Wong did it for him.

Stephen looks up when he feels something hitting the side of his head and sees how Wong glares at him before dropping another book in front of him. The Sorcerer only rolls his eyes and pulls the heavy book towards him and doesn't waste time in reading the new pages, although his mind would sometimes wonder off and would think about you. Every time he thinks of you he starts to feel more and more guilty for treating you so badly, especially on your birthday. He wanted nothing more than to call you or portal his way towards you and apologize, but Wong needed him focused and he needed his assistance with this spell, or else the student would not make it through the night. After making a promise to himself and making sure to make it up to you at the party, Stephen went back to translating the book.

 

*******

Few hours later

You were walking towards the elevator of the tower with Natasha by your side while having enormous balloons in her hands and you with a box of beer in your own hands. Before the small event began, Nat had kidnapped you from the tower and spent the whole day with you. She had surprised you in Tony's office, making you have a wide smile on your face when you see her singing her way inside the office. You didn't know she was going to come and thanked her for doing so and making your day less shitty. Half of your day was spent with Nat and the both of you were sure you wasted more than a hundred bucks just buying clothes and maybe brand new perfumes from your favorite stores. As you and Nat waited in the elevator with both your hands full with things, you guys finally arrive on the top floor. Both you and Nat couldn't help giggling when you both try to leave the elevator at the same time and getting stuck between the door frames.

Nat gestures for you to walk out first, which you do and begin walking towards the living room, but as you walked down the hall you realized how dark everything was. It seemed as if no one was home and everyone was out in about, making you feel like your day would only be more depressing once Nat decides to leave back home. After telling Friday to turn on all the lights you finally turn the corner towards the living room, where all the lights went active and revealing everyone in the room as they scream 'Surprise!' You feel yourself jumping at the sudden moment and look at everyone with wide eyes, but soon feel a big smile spreading on your face when you see almost everyone there. The Gaurdians, Sam, Pepper, Ethan, Happy, May, Peter, Rhodey, Fury, Scott and his family, along with his partners in crime, even Thor was standing in the room with a birthday hat on his head and a bottle of whiskey on his hand. T'Challa and Shuri were also there. Surprisingly even Danvers was there, with regular clothes. However, you felt your heart doing flips when you spot Stephen appearing besides Pepper with a whiskey glass in his hand. You hadn't spoke to him the rest of the day, even if you wanted to more than anything, but his words really did hurt you and you didn't want anything to do with him at the moment.

However, once you locked eyes with him all you wanted was to hug him and kiss him there and then, but of course you didn't want to forgive him that quickly. Especially if he hasn't apologized for his actions. You break your staring contest with Stephen when you feel someone helping you with the items in your hands. You smile at Rhodey and thank him as you begin to hug everyone in the room and blushing when Scott gives you a small peck on your cheek. You didn't notice how Stephen was staring at him with hard eyes and slowly gripping his glass harder and harder. Unfortunately, Stephen turns his eyes from cold ones to soft ones when he meets yours. He wanted to hug you like everyone else in the room, but he wasn't able to since you got dragged by the girls. Wherever you were at in the tower Stephen kept a close eye on you, waiting until you met his and would only stare at you as if he wanted you to read his mind on what he was trying to say to you, but all you did was bring your attention back to the conversation. 

Eventually after getting another lecture from Wong—who happened to show up as well— and a death glare from Pepper, the Sorcerer finally made his way towards you before gulping the remaining of his drink. You were standing by the bar while talking to Danvers about something that didn't really matter to the Sorcerer, all he wanted was to feel you next to him after not being with him throughout the rest of the night. Your back was facing Stephen as he made his way towards you. A hand on your hip and a soft peck on your cheek, you automatically knew it was him. Not only because you got a whiff of his cologne, but because he also spoke in his deep baritone voice of his, making it difficult for you to not have a smile spread on your face.

"Hey birthday girl,"

"Ohh he remembers," You say sarcastically as you angle your head to see him from your shoulder,

Stephen smiles shyly at you, but drops his eyes to the floor as he gives a soft chuckle. However, he never removed his hand from your hip— not that you minded.

"I'm gonna go see if Fury wants to cat sit again," Danvers says with a smile and leaves you and Stephen alone at the bar,

You chuckle at her, knowing it wasn't a lie to just get away from the tension between you and Stephen. As she walked away you turn around to fully meet Stephen in the eye, who was now looking in your eyes and nervously fiddling with his lower lip. You leaned your back on the bar counter, trying to give yourself some distance from him but he only closed the little space once again. You can smell the alcohol from his body and had a feeling he was hammered, even if you didn't really see him grabbing drink after drink you still knew he was drinking.

Stephen sighs and takes another step to grab your hip, "I'm-,"

"Drunk," You interrupt him while placing your hand on his firm chest when he tries to lean down,

"No, no I'm not.. I'm sober," You raise an eyebrow,

"Sure you are,"

"I swear," He says with pleading eyes,

"Really? How many fingers do I have?" You ask while holding five fingers up in the air,

Stephen gives you an annoyed face but sighs as he humors you by counting down your fingers.

"Five," He takes a step, making you back up more to the bar,

One finger down.

"Four," Another step,

Another finger down.

"Three," He was now hovering over you as you place another finger down,

"Two," Just as he was about to lean down to feel your lips, you give him the middle finger with a stern look and making him sigh as he eyed your finger and knowing too well you weren't over about what he said,

He knew he hurt you with his words, and he wished nothing more than to hug you, kiss you while apologizing over and over in your ear. He didn't mean his words, but he knew you were having a rough day and once those words left his mouth he knew how much they affected you even more.

"Y/n I'm so, so sorry.. I didn't mean it," Stephen stares at you with puppy eyes and continues, "It's just been a rough week,"

You drop your hand but cross your arms in front of your chest. 

You scoff at him, "And it wasn't for me?"

"I know this whole month would be rough for you... and I am sorry I spaced out and wasn't there for you," Stephen doesn't hesitate to say and stares at you with puppy eyes as he waits for you to speak,

You didn't say anything back, all you did was stare at his dark grey long sleeve. You then noticed he was only wearing blue jeans,grey long sleeve and black boots. He looked dashing like always and his firm chest was more visible with the long sleeve. The shirt hugged his body very well, making his chest and arms more visible through the thin cotton. As you were busy checking out his beautifulness, a hand on your cheek makes you look up and instantly locking with his eyes that have turned grey under the small light from the bar.

"Please forgive me," He rubs your cheek with his thumb and never drops his eyes from yours,

The softness from his voice and mesmerizing eyes were too much for you that you couldn't be mad at him no longer. With a soft scoff you lean into his hand and speak without breaking eye contact.

"Your impossible," A smile slowly starts to spread on the Sorcerers face and gently lets his lips connect with yours,

You smile in the kiss and finally let your hands get tangled in his locks. You missed him, even if you saw him a few hours ago, it still felt like forever that you last saw or touched him. You didn't like the fact that if you two fought both of you wouldn't speak to each other for a few minutes or hours, but you were glad Stephen understood when to give you your space and you hoped he was too. Stephen was the first to break the kiss, but he lets his forehead lean on yours and speaks in a whisper only you are able to hear.

"Come with me," You look into his eyes with confusion but let him intertwine your fingers together as he leads you two out the room,

He walks down the hall until he turns to a sliding door that leads to the indoor swimming pool. Near the pool was a glowing portal, and Stephen only smiles down at you as he lets you walk through first. As soon as you step foot into the other side of the portal you feel your mouth open as you admire the beautiful view in front of you. Straight ahead was a blanket on the grass with small candles off the blanket, a small plate with champagne glasses on one side and a beautiful lake with the sunset in the sky. Everything was beautiful and peaceful. You look up at Stephen to find him staring at you with a smile on his face.

"Happy birthday Y/n," Stephen says with pure love in his voice, making your eyes go glossy under the sunset and you quickly hug him before bringing his head down to kiss him,

Once you pulled away from each other, you both sat down on the blanket while Stephen opened the champagne. After finishing the entire bottle the both of you remained sitting on the ground with your back against his chest and his arms wrapped protectively around you. Both of you stayed seated on the ground while admiring the sun going down and once it did, Stephen smiles to himself when he waves his hand in front of you. In less than a second a glowing blue butterfly appears out of thin air and starts to fly upwards to the night sky, making you stare at it with a wide smile. Seeing your smile on your face only makes Stephens chest become warmer. 

"I love you," He says while still staring at you,

You turn to look at him and smile back, "I love you too," 

With that Stephen bends down once again to kiss your lips. You let a hand go to the back of his neck and softly kissed him back. You two kissed each other for a few minutes until a bright light breaks the kiss. Looking up at the sky, you see almost a thousand more butterflies flying in the sky and glowing, making the lake shine brighter with their blue glow. You chuckle as you continue to stare upwards and only bring Stephens arms tighter around you, and he only pulls you closer towards his chest. Everything felt perfect at the moment. Stephen behind you with his arms around you, and the beautiful night was enough to make you smile.

However, little did you know a few days later, everything would soon go to shit once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!! 💕💕  
> -  
> -  
> Stay tuned for the next chapter!! ⚠️⚠️


End file.
